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VACATION CAMPING 
FOR GIRLS 



VACATION 

CAMPING FOR 

GIRLS 

By 

JLANNLTTE. MARKS 




ILLUSTRATED 



NLW YORK AND LONDON 

D. APPLLTON AND COMPANY 

1913 



Sl<(b 






Copyright, 1913, by 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



Copyright, 191 2, by David C. Cook Publishing Company 



Printed in the United States of America 



(e)rJ.A'Mfi8R4 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Camping Check Lists .... i 

II. Camp Clothes 13 

III. Food 24 

IV. Cook and Cookee 37 

V. Log-Cabin Cookery 46 

VI. The Place to Camp 68 

VII. Camp Fires 77 

VIII. Other Smoke 87 

IX. Fitting Up the Camp for Use . 94 

X. The Pocketbook 107 

XL The Camp Dog 118 

XII. The Outdoor Training School . 127 

XIII. The Camp Habit . . . . . .139 

XIV. Camp Cleanliness 147 

XV. Wood Culture and Camp 

Health i57 

XVI. Wilderness Silence 171 

XVII. Home-made Camping 181 

XVIII. The Canoe and Fishing . . .193 

XIX. The Trail 209 

XX. Camp Don'ts 221 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Camp Footgear 15 

A Group of Camp Utensils 33 

Nessmuk Range and Small Cook Fire . . . 79 

Sleeping Bags and Camp Cot 99 

A Group of Tents 109 

Bough Lean-to and Frame 113 

Some Game and Water Birds 131 

Birds Every Camper Should Know . . . .135 

Leaves of Familiar Trees 137 

Some Common Fish 199 

Fishing Tackle 201 

Rod Case, Tackle Case, Net and Creel . . . 205 

Angling Knots 207 

The Dipper 213 

Moose, Buck, Doe, Fawn and Caribou . . .215 
Animals the Camper May Meet 217 



VACATION CAMPING 
FOR GIRLS 

CHAPTER I 

CAMPING CHECK LISTS 

THERE are some considerations in 
camping which are staple; that 
is, questions and needs all of us 
have to meet, just as there are staple foods 
which all of us must have. No one knows 
better than the old camper, who has shaken 
down his ideas, theories, practices, year after 
year in the experiment of camping how true 
this is. If one is wise, one goes well pre- 
pared even into the simple life of the woods 
or mountains or lakes; and it is in a prac- 
tical way, and under three so-called check 
lists, (i) camp clothes, (2) camp food, and 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

(3) camp equipment, that I wish to tell you 
something about camp life for girls. 

From the point of view of clothes there 
are two kinds of camping: one more or less 
civilized, the other "rough.'' In the first 
perhaps we shall be allowed a small 
box or trunk. In the second we have to 
depend entirely upon a duffle bag or a knap- 
sack. To the camper who plans for a good 
many comforts, there Is only one warning 
to be given : don't be foolish and take finery 
of any sort with you. Not only will It be 
In the way, but also a girl does not look well 
In the woods dressed In clothes that belong 
to the home life of town or city. 

There is an appropriate garb for the wil- 
derness even as there Is the right gown for 
an afternoon tea. Except for this warning, 
what you will put In your trunk will be sim- 
ply an extension of the comforts which you 
have in duffle bag or knapsack. 

As the capacity of duffle bag or knapsack 
2 



CAMPING CHECK LISTS 

Is very limited, the check lists for its con- 
tents must be made out with rigid economy. 
The most Important Item Is foot gear. A 
well-made pair of medium weight boots, 
carefully tanned, drenched with mutton tal- 
low, viscol, neat's-foot oil, or some similar 
waterproof substance, will prove the best for 
all-round usefulness. These boots must be 
broken In or worn before the camping ex- 
pedition Is undertaken. Nothing Is so fool- 
ish as to start out In a new pair. Have In 
addition to the boots a pair of soft Indoor 
moccasins. These are good to loaf around 
camp In. They are grateful to tired feet, 
and, rolled, take up but little space In the 
knapsack. To the boots and moccasins add 
from two to four pairs of hole-proof stock- 
ings of some reliable make. If you can get 
a really first-class stocking and are crowded 
for space, two pairs will do. One goes on 
to your feet and the other Into your knap- 
sack. There should also be several combl- 
3 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

nation suits, preferably of two weights, high 
necked, and with shoulder and knee caps. 

Now, see that the skirt you wear Is of 
durable material; blue serge or tweed (cor- 
duroy Is often too heavy) ; that It has been 
thoroughly shrunk, and is six Inches off the 
ground anyway. Twelve would be better. 
Your skirt should be provided with ample 
pockets; the sweater and jacket also. Un- 
der the skirt wear a pair of bloomers, the 
lighter and sllmsler they are, the better; and 
the stouter the material, the more practical 
for wear. I have tried many kinds, and be- 
lieve percallne which Is light, strong, sllmsy 
and washable, the best. Silk Is not suitable 
at all. A flannel shirt waist or blouse, a 
Windsor or string tie, a soft felt hat with a 
sufficiently wide brim, but not too wide, com- 
plete your costume. 

Into the knapsack put two coarse handker- 
chiefs, a silk neckerchief to tie around your 
neck, the stockings and combination suit al- 
4 



CAMPING CHECK LISTS 

ready mentioned, a string of safety pins 
clipped one Into another, a toothbrush, tubes 
of cold cream and tooth paste (tubes take 
up the least room and are the easiest to 
carry), a cotton shirtwaist, a nail file, comb, 
small bottle of the best cascara sagrada tab- 
lets, a pair of cotton gloves for rough work, 
a cake of castUe soap, a towel, a stiff nail 
brush, and, if you are zvise, a book for 
leisure hours, preferably an anthology of 
poems or a collection of essays which will 
afford food for reflection. 

In your preparations let It be the rule to 
strip away every unnecessary article. Take 
pride In getting your kit down to the abso- 
lute minimum. Keep weeding out what you 
don't need, and then after that, weed out 
again. 

The same principle of rigid economy In 

selection will obtain In the check list for 

food. It Is the minimum of expense In the 

woods that will bring the maximum of com- 

5 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

fort. In arranging for the "duffle" to be 
taken with you there is one thing that can be 
counted upon with mathematical certainty: 
hunger. You are going to be hungrier than 
you have been in a long time. The problem 
is, then, how to tote enough food and get 
enough food to supply your wants. The 
carriage, the keeping, the nutritive value, all 
these things have to be taken into considera- 
tion in wood life. At home we have fresh 
vegetables, fresh fruits, fresh meats in 
abundance. How can we supply these things 
for our camp table? We can't! But desic- 
cated potatoes, dried apples, apricots, 
prunes, peaches, white and yellow-eye beans, 
dried lima beans, peas, whole or split, onions, 
rice, raisins, nuts, white and graham flour, 
corn meal, pilot biscuit, rolled oats, cream of 
wheat, cocoa (leave coffee and tea at home) , 
sweet chocolate, syrup for flapjacks, baking 
soda, sugar, salt, a few candles (helpful for 
lighting a fire in wet weather, as well as good 
6 



CAMPING CHECK LISTS 

for Illumination), matches, molasses, a little 
olive oil — all these things, with careful plan- 
ning, we may have in abundance. To these 
items you should add good butter — the best 
salted butter is none too good — some cans of 
condensed milk and evaporated milk and 
cream, and a flitch of bacon. Meat makes 
a dirty camp, and a dirty camp means 
skunks and hedgehogs prowling around. In 
a properly thought-out dietary it will be en- 
tirely unnecessary to tote meat. All that is 
needed for use you can get at the end of 
your fish rod or through the barrel of your 
shotgun, and upon the freshness of what you 
catch or shoot you can depend. Dr. Breck, 
in his "Way of the Woods," says that if he 
were obliged to choose between bacon and 
dried apples and chocolate, he would always 
take the apples and chocolate. Both portage 
and health will be served by avoiding the 
carriage of a lot of tin cans. The ration of 
each article needed you can work out with 
7 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

your mother or housekeeper, according to 
the number of people to be In the party, 
the menus you plan, and the length of your 
stay. For a cooler for your food, you will 
find a wire bait box, sunk in clean running 
water, excellent. The question of grub, or 
duffle, as it is called in camp life, in proper 
variety, abundance and freshness, is the most 
difficult question of all. To this problem a 
seasoned camper will give his closest atten- 
tion. 

There are other articles, plus the food 
stuffs, which we must add to our check lists 
— chiefly articles of equipment. Two or 
three pails nesting into each other, a tin re- 
flector baker for outdoor cooking, enamel- 
ware plates, cups and bowls, pans, dishpans, 
dishmop, chain pot-cleaner, double boiler, 
broiler, knives, forks, spoons, pepper and salt 
shakers, flour sifter, rotary can opener, long- 
handled and short-handled fry pans, a carv- 
ing knife and a fish knife. The cost of these 
8 



CAMPING CHECK LISTS 

things carefully bought, will be about six 
dollars. There should also be in your kit 
some nails and a hatchet, toilet paper, 
woolen blankets, mosquito netting (tarlatan 
is better), twine, tacks, oilcloth for camp 
table, and some fly dope. 

With these articles, plus a little knowledge 
of woodcraft, there is almost no wilderness 
into which a capable girl cannot go and make 
an attractive home. But a little woodcraft 
we must know; the rest we can learn as we 
go. There Is one fuel In the woods which 
skillfully used will kindle any fire, even a 
wet fire, and that is birch bark. You can 
always get an inner layer of dry birch bark 
from a tree. Keep a check list of different 
kinds of wood and have it handy until you 
learn these woods for yourself. Brush tops 
or slashings will help to start a quick blaze. 
Hickory is fine for a quiet hot fire. The 
green woods which burn readily are white 
and black birch, ash, oak and hard maple. 
9 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

Look for pitch, which you are most likely 
to find in old trees, and that will always help 
out and start any fire. Woods that snap, 
such as hemlock, spruce, cedar and larch, are 
not to be recommended for camp fires, as a 
rule. To be careless or stupid about the 
camp fire may be to endanger the lives not 
only of thousands of wild creatures in the 
wilderness, but also the lives of human be- 
ings. 

Be careful to have pure water to drink. 
You cannot be too careful. If you are in 
doubt about the water, don't drink it, or at 
least not until it has been thoroughly boiled. 
Take with you, besides those I give, a few 
useful recipes for cooking experiments. They 
will bring pleasure and variety on dull days. 
Choose a good place for your cabin or shack 
or tent, whichever you use, especially a place 
where the natural drainage is good. Know 
before you set out whether black flies, mos- 
quitoes and midges have to be encountered 

lO 



CAMPING CHECK LISTS 

and go prepared to meet them. They are 
sure to meet you more than halfway. Don't 
take any risks on land or water. The peo- 
ple who know the way of the woods best are 
those who are least foolhardy. Common 
sense Is the law that reigns in the wilder- 
ness, and, in having our good time, we can- 
not do better than to follow that law. 

So much for skeleton check lists, many of 
which, in the chapters to come, at the cost 
of repetition, I shall amplify. Among the 
questions which I shall take up are the all- 
important ones of camp clothes, camp food, 
cooking, the place, camp fires, furnishing the 
camp, the pocketbook, the camp dog, the out- 
door training school, the camp habit, wood 
culture, camp health, camp friendship, home- 
made camping, the canoe, fishing, and the 
trail. This great, big, beautiful country of 
ours is full of girls, real Camp Fire Girls^ 
who love the keen air of out of doors and 
the smell of wood smoke and the freedom of 
II 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

hill and lake and plain, and to them I want 
my little book to come home and to be a 
camp manual which will go with them on all 
journeys into the wilderness. 



CHAPTER II 

CAMP CLOTHES 

IF you have been camping once, there Is 
no need for any one to help you de- 
cide what wearing apparel to take 
the next time. Through the mistakes made 
and the discomforts involved, the girl will 
have learned her lesson too well to forget it. 
But there is always the girl who has not been 
camping. It is chiefly for her benefit that I 
am writing these chapters on camp life for 
girls. 

In the first place, there are two kinds of 
camp clothes to be considered, for there are 
two kinds of camping: (i) the expedition 
which permits taking a box or trunk with 
you, and (2) the rougher camping that al- 
lows only the carrying of a duffle bag or a 
knapsack. If you are limited to a knapsack 
13 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

or a duffle bag, your kit must be of the most 
concentrated sort and chosen with the great- 
est care. You will find ten or fifteen pounds 
the most you wish to tote long distances, al- 
though at the beginning this size of pack may 
seem like nothing at all to you. As I have 
found personally, even seven pounds, with 
day after day of tramping, may make an un- 
accustomed shoulder ache under the strap. 

If you are to be limited to a small duffle 
bag, or a fairly capacious knapsack, what 
are the articles of clothing without which no 
girl can start? Let us take up the most im- 
portant item first, and that is foot-gear. 
Wear a well-made pair of medium weight 
boots, thoroughly tanned, soaked with vis- 
col, or rubbed with mutton tallow both on 
the inside and the outside, to make them 
waterproof. Never start out with a new 
pair of hoots on your feet. If necessary, get 
your boots weeks beforehand, and wear them 
from time to time till they are thoroughly 
14 




MECCOMOC OXFORD 



ELKSKIN MOCCASIN 



15 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

comfortable. In addition to these boots 
which you wear, take a soft pair of indoor 
moccasins. These can be worn when you 
are tired and loafing around camp, or while 
the guide is drying or greasing your boots. 
If you have ever worn moccasins and are 
going to tramp in a moccasin country, that is, 
a country of forest trails and ponds, then 
buy a pair of heavy outdoor moccasins; lar- 
rigans or ankle-moccasins are best. These 
should not be too snug. Worn over a heavy 
cotton stocking, or a light woolen one, or 
woolen stockings drawn over cotton, the 
moccasin is the most ideal foot-gear the wil- 
derness world can ever know.^ Neat's-foot 
oil is also excellent for greasing moccasins. 
Buy from two to four pairs of hole-proof 



*If you have room take with you an extra pair of 
shoes. When you have become a real woodswoman you 
will never be without woolen socks and moccasins. The 
thick, soft sole of sock and moccasin spare tender feet 
which are not accustomed to hard tramping and rough 
paths. 

i6 



CAMP CLOTHES 

stockings of some reliable make. If these 
stockings are first class and can be depended 
upon, two pairs will do. One pair you will 
wear, the other goes into your knapsack. 
Have also several combination suits, some 
for your bag and one for your back. These 
suits should be high-necked and with shoul- 
der and knee caps; of sufficient warmth for 
cold days and nights; in any case porous and 
of two weights. 

If you are going to tramp in a skirt, as 
you must if your route touches upon civili- 
zation, see that it is short. Six inches off the 
ground is none too much, and twelve is a 
good deal better. In an outing of this sort 
it is as poor form to wear a long skirt as it 
would be to wear a short skirt at an after- 
noon tea in civilization. The skirt should 
be of some good quality khaki, army prefer- 
ably, or a tweed; it should be thoroughly 
shrunk, and if it seems desirable, it should 
be possible to put this camp skirt in water 
17 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

and wash it.^ Have ample pockets on either 
side of the front seams. If I had to choose 
between the best of sweaters and a jacket 
with a lot of pockets in it, I should always 
choose the latter, and that is not on account 
of the pockets alone, but because it is a more 
convenient article of clothing. In case of 
cold weather it affords better protection, also 
better protection against rain as well as cold. 
You can have it made with two outside 
pockets and several inside — the more the 
merrier. Underneath the skirt wear a pair 
of bloomers. The lighter and stouter these 
are, the more of a comfort they will be. I 
have found a good quality of percaline to be 
the best investment. Percaline is light, 
strong, slimsy after a little wearing, and 
washes well. I have never yet found a silk 
that was practicable in the woods. Silk 



*You can buy an ideal hunting suit at any of the big 
shops in Boston, New York or Chicago for from $8 to 
$10. 

i8 



CAMP CLOTHES 

bloomers go well with the comforts of civili- 
zation, but they are not fit to endure the test 
of roughing it. A flannel shirtwaist or 
blouse, a Windsor or string tie, a soft felt 
hat — you may have it as pretty as you wish, 
provided it is not too large or over trimmed 
— complete the outfit which you carry on you, 
so to speak. 

Now to return to the outfit you carry in 
your pack and not on your back. A pair of 
indoor moccasins, an extra pair of hole- 
proof stockings (these you must have, not 
only on account of a possible wetting, but 
also because the stockings must be changed 
every day, for you cannot take too good 
care of your feet), two coarse handkerchiefs 
of ample size, a silk neckerchief to tie 
around your neck, an extra combination suit, 
a few safety pins clipped one into another 
until you have made a string of them, a tooth 
brush, a little tube of cold cream and a tube 
of tooth paste (the tubes are not breakable 
19 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

and take up the least room, they are there- 
fore the best to carry), a cotton or linen 
shirtwaist of some kind, a nail file, a comb, 
a small vial of cascara sagrada tablets, sev- 
eral rolls of film for your camera — the 
camera itself can be slung on a strap from 
the knapsack — a pair of garden gloves for 
rough work with sooty pots and kettles, a 
good-sized cake of the best castile soap, a 
towel, a good stiff nail brush, and one or two 
books. 

Personally I feel that the books are as in- 
dispensable as anything in the knapsack, for 
in moments of weariness, or when storm- 
bound, they prove the greatest comfort and 
resource. The volume taken must not be a 
novel which read through once one does not 
care to read again. Better to take some 
book over which you can or must linger. I 
have tramped scores of miles with the "Ox- 
ford Book of English Verse" in my knap- 
sack, and it has proved the greatest imag- 
20 



CAMP CLOTHES 

Inable pleasure and solace. A small an- 
thology or a book of essays, or something 
that you wish to study, as, for example, 
guides about the birds or the trees or the 
flowers, are good sorts of volumes to tote 
with you — besides, of course, this camping 
manual. 

Your kit for the rougher kind of camp- 
ing, provided you have guides or men folks 
who will carry the food, or "grub," as it is 
called in camp parlance, and the blankets, is 
now complete. But for the one girl who 
goes on this rougher sort of camping expe- 
dition, twenty go into the woods to be happy 
in a quite civilized log cabin or shanty. 
These girls will be taking a camp box with 
them, or a trunk, and can add to their ward- 
robe. There is no excuse, however, for add- 
ing the wrong sort of thing. There is no 
excuse for wearing unsuitable, unattractive 
old rags about camp, clothes which have 
served their civilized purpose and have no 

31 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

fitness for the wilderness life. Let me give 
you one other word, from an old timer at 
camping, about what you should wear. 
Don't be foolish and put in any finery. The 
finery is as out of place in camp as your 
camp boots would be at a garden party at 
home. But several middy blouses, more 
shoes, more stockings, another skirt, a num- 
ber of towels, a few more books — all will 
prove just that much added food for pleas- 
ure; first, last, and always, be comfortable in 
camp. There is no reason for being uncom- 
fortable unless you enjoy discomfort. Any- 
thing, however, over and above what you 
actually need will be only a hindrance. 
Those who go camping, if they go in the 
right spirit, are looking for the simple life; 
they want to get rid of paraphernalia, not to 
add to it. To learn the happy art of living 
close to nature, means stripping away un- 
necessary things. There is no place in camp 
life for fussiness or display of any sort. All 

22 



CAMP CLOTHES 

that Is beyond the dally need Is so much lit- 
ter and clutter, making of camp life some- 
thing that Is a burden, something that Is un- 
tidy, uncomfortable, confused. Of no thing 
Is this more true than of a girl's camp 
clothes. 



CHAPTER III 

FOOD 

THERE are several reasons why the 
camp food is almost more impor- 
tant than any other consideration. 
To begin with, most girls are leading a more 
active life than they are accustomed to living 
at home. This makes them hungry, and, add 
to the exercise the natural tonic of invig- 
orating air, the camper becomes fairly rav- 
enous at meal time. There are other rea- 
sons, too, why food is an all-important ques- 
tion. If one is in the real wilderness, it will 
be difficult to get. One is obliged, therefore, 
to consider carefully beforehand the kinds 
of food necessary for a well-provided table 
and a well-balanced diet. Another reason 
for taking thought about this whole subject 
is the portage. All the foods must be toted 
24 



FOOD 

in, and not all kinds will prove suitable or 
economical in the long run for this sort of 
portage. Finally, there is the question of the 
ways and means for keeping the food, after 
it is once safely In camp, in good condition. 
As a rule, when we go on our expeditions 
we leave regions where It Is easy to get a 
great variety of foods. The city or Its sub- 
urb or a comfortable country town, is the 
place we call home. Our tables are filled 
the year long with fresh vegetables, fresh 
fruits, fresh meats, and all kinds of bread. 
This dietary in all its variety, to which we 
have been accustomed at home. Is quite im- 
possible of realization in the camp. We 
might just as well make up our minds to 
that at once. Yet accustomed to vegetables 
and fruits as we are, we need them both in 
wholesome quantities. How shall we get 
them? Potatoes of course. If the camping 
expedition Is for any length of time, that Is 
ten days or more, must be lugged. And lug- 
25 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

ging potatoes Is heavy work over a trail. As 
for the other vegetables and fruits, and even 
meats, most people buy large quantities of 
tinned articles and so get rid of the whole 
question. Personally I think that this is a 
great mistake. It was a delight to me to 
find in Doctor Breck's "Way of the Woods'* 
that he, if obliged to choose between bacon 
and dried apples and chocolate, would al- 
ways choose the chocolate and dried apples. 
And when the question of portage as well 
as health enters in, it may be said right here 
that it is quite impossible to carry a pack 
full of tins. But aside from the comfort of 
the guides, a tin-can camp is not likely to be 
a wholesome one. I am convinced that tin- 
can camping is responsible for whatever ills 
people experience when they go into the 
woods. 

It is quite simple to get different kinds of 
dried vegetables and different kinds of dried 
fruits — and the best are none too good — In 
26 



FOOD 

bulk. At present there are even evaporated 
potatoes on the market for campers. Such 
dried foods pack and carry best and are most 
wholesome. Both white and yellow eye 
beans, dried lima beans, peas, whole and 
split, onions, evaporated apples, dried 
prunes, dried peaches and apricots, rice, 
raisins, nuts of all kinds, lemons, oranges, 
and even bananas, if they are sufficiently 
green, can be quite easily taken into camp. 
Various sorts of flour and meal, too, will be 
needed. Find out how much it takes to 
bake the bread at home and add that to the 
length of your stay plus the number of the 
campers and plus a little more than you ac- 
tually need, and you will be able to work out 
the flour problem for yourselves. There 
should be then white and graham flour, or 
entire wheat, corn meal, pilot bread (mem- 
ories of toasted pilot bread in camp can 
make one smile from recollected joy), some 
rolled oats, cereals like cream of wheat 
27 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

which carries well, cooks easily, and is 
hearty, and various sorts of crackers. 

Now the writer does not think meat neces- 
sary in camp. Except for the fish caught and 
the birds shot, none need be eaten. All the 
meat element or proteid necessary is pro- 
vided for in the beans, peas, and nuts. But 
it is well to take a flitch of bacon or a few 
jars of it to use in broiling or frying the fish 
or game. Pork and lard are entirely un- 
called-for in a properly thought out dietary.^ 



^ A brother camper says that he thinks even the fish 
would feel neglected without pork. On the contrary, 
trout are very sensitive to good bacon — in short, prefer 
it to salt pork. If you do not believe this true fish 
story, then catch two dozen half pound trout, slice your 
bacon thin and draw off the bacon fat. Take out the 
bacon, put the fat back into the frying pan — don't burn 
yourself — and pop in one-half dozen trout. After the 
first mouthful you will find that my contention that 
trout are most sensitive to bacon entirely true. Be sure 
to put a little piece of bacon on that first bite. Fol- 
lowing that, all you have to do is to keep on biting 
until your share of the two dozen trout is consumed. 
Remarkable how those two dozen will fly — almost as if 
the little fellows had turned into birds! The reason I 
am opposed to pork and lard camping is that we all 

28 



FOOD 

Sufficient good fresh butter Is very much 
needed. If campers feel that they must have 
other tinned meats, the best kinds to take are 
the most expensive, ox tongue, and that sort 
of thing. Several months ago four of us 
started off on a ten days' camping expedition 
into a very northern wilderness unknown to 
us. One of the party, needlessly ambitious, 
took a preserved chicken in a glass jar 
bought from the finest provision house in 
Boston. By the time we reached our des- 
tination, the chicken was anything but pre- 
served. Indeed, unless all signs failed, it had 
already embarked upon a new incarnation. 
No arm in the party was long enough to 
carry it out and set it on a distant rock for 
the skunks to visit. Nor shall I soon forget 

know nowadays how diseased such meat may be. To 
go into the woods for health and run any avoidable 
risks is folly. Get a flitch of the best bacon and the 
best bacon is Ferris bacon. From this you will get 
enough fat for all frying purposes; also, in case you 
use fat as a substitute for butter, there will be enough 
bacon fat for cakes, etc. 

29 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

a certain meat ragout which we concocted in 
a Canadian wilderness. We had the ragout, 
but alas, we had a good deal else, too, in- 
cluding a doctor who had to cover half a 
county to reach us ! Aside from the fact 
that people who live in cities and towns eat 
altogether too much meat, in camp there is 
not only the question of its uselessness, but 
also the fact that there are no ways to care 
for it properly. Meat makes a dirty camp.^ 

^ I cannot emphasize too often the absolute importance 
of keeping a clean camp. Mr. Rutger Jewett, to whom 
this camping manual and its author are indebted for 
many wise suggestions, thinks that it is not always 
feasible to burn up everything. "Every camp," he 
writes, "has some empty tin cans. It seems to me that 
the best plan in this case is to have a small trench dug, 
far enough from the camp to avoid all disagreeable re- 
sults and yet not so far away that it is inaccessible. 
Here cans and unburnable refuse from the kitchen can 
be thrown and kept covered with earth or sand to avoid 
flies and odors. Everything that can be burned, should 
be." The only difficulty in my mind is, in case the 
region is hedgehog-infested, that those charming crea- 
tures will form their usual "bread-line" — this time to the 
trench — and add digging to their accomplishments in 
gnawing. However! Better rinse out your tin cans; 
Sis Hedgehog is less likely to mistake the can for the 
original delicacy. 

30 



FOOD 

All food refuse should be burned up, any- 
way, never thrown out into the brush, and it 
is difficult to burn meat bones. The girl or 
woman who keeps a dirty camp is beneath 
contempt. There is likely to be one neigh- 
bor, if not more, in the vicinity of every 
camp, who will make things uncomfortable 
for the campers. He should be called the 
camp pig, and he is the hedgehog. Also his 
cousin, the skunk, will hang around to see 
what is carelessly thrown out or left for him 
to eat. The hedgehog is the greediest, most 
unwelcome fellow in the woods, and even the 
fact that the poet Robert Browning had one 
as a pet will not redeem him in the eyes of 
the practical camper. He hangs around any 
camp that is not kept clean, gnaws axe 
handles which the salty human hand has 
touched, licks out tin cans which have not 
been rinsed as they should be before they 
are thrown away — in short, he follows up 
every bit of camp slackness. There is only 
31 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

one way to keep off hedgehogs and that is 
to have an absolutely tidy camp. 

In addition to the food stuffs already men- 
tioned, there are several others which should 
be taken in the necessary quantities. Salt 
and pepper — better leave tea and coffee at 
home and take cocoa — soda, sugar, a few 
candles (helpful in lighting a fire in wet 
weather, as well as for illumination), 
matches, in a rubber box if possible, kero- 
sene if your camp outfit will permit such a 
luxury, olive oil, maple syrup for flapjacks, 
molasses, condensed and evaporated milk or 
milk powder. 

The articles which need to be cooled can 
be kept fresh in a nearby brook. Dead fish, 
however, should never be allowed to he in 
water, but should be wrapped up in ferns or 
large leaves. If you are camping for any 
length of time, by making a little runway out 
of a trough you can have freshly flowing 
water, cooling butter and other food stuffs, 
32 




REFLECTOR BAKER. 



^C 



^. c 



HOLD-ALL. 




PATENTED FRY PAN. 



HUNTING KNIFE. 




BIRCH BARK CUP. 

33 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

all the time. Or a receptacle constructed 
something like a wire bait box will prove as 
good as the flowing water. This sunk into 
a cool pond or lake, makes an admirable ice 
chest, into which the finny creatures cannot 
get. In some rotation which you have de- 
cided upon, the care of the food should re- 
ceive the especial attention from one girl 
every day. In this way hedgehogs, skunks, 
mice, rats, ants, will all be kept at a distance. 
There are in addition to these various food 
stuffs and their care, as I said in the 
first chapter, many articles necessary for 
camp life about which we must think. 
If you are going off for a few days with a 
guide, he will attend to these things for you. 
But if you are setting up a camp for your- 
self, you will need to have them in mind. 
They are, two or three tin pails of con- 
venient sizes nesting or fitting into one an- 
other so that they can be easily carried, a 
tin reflector baker for outdoor cooking, a 
34 



FOOD 

coffee pot if you are foolish enough to take 
coffee, enameled ware plates and cups, basins, 
pans, dishpans, a dishmop, a chain pot- 
cleaner, a double boiler, a broiler, knives 
and forks, spoons big and little, pepper and 
salt shakers, flour sifter, a rotary can opener, 
a frypan, long-handled and short-handled, a 
carving knife and a fish knife if you intend 
to do a great deal of fishing. There are 
many kinds of cooking kits. There is 
a good one for four persons which may be 
obtained at about six dollars from any large 
hardware dealer. Add to these things 
which have been mentioned fish hooks, a lan- 
tern, lantern wicks, nails of different sizes, a 
hammer — don't forget the hammer! — toilet 
paper, woolen blankets, mosquito netting (if 
it is a mosquito-infested district) , fly dope to 
rub on hands and face, oilcloth for camp 
table, some twine and some tacks. 

Equipped with these articles and what you 
carry in your knapsacks and what you wear, 
35 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

there Is almost no wilderness In which a girl 
cannot have a good time, Improve her health, 
and be the wiser for having entered the wil- 
derness. 



CHAPTER IV 

COOK AND COOKEE 

ANY of you who have ever seen a 
lumber camp will remember some- 
thing of how it is constructed. 
Separate from the main building is the su- 
perintendent's office, a little cabin built usu- 
ally of tar paper and light timber; then there 
is the hovel, as it is called, in which the 
horses and cows are stabled, and finally there 
is the big main building where the crew sleep 
and eat. But separated from the men's dor- 
mitory by a passageway that leads into the 
outdoors, is the big room used as kitchen and 
dining room. Just beyond this and opening 
into the kitchen, is the room in which the 
cook and his assistant sleep. 

In these two rooms in the wilderness, cook 
and cookee reign supreme. They are the 
most important persons in the camp. They 
37 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

are the best paid. Their word is law. They 
have a room by themselves, partly for clean- 
liness' sake, and also because the success of 
the whole camp depends more or less upon 
them. But it is not alone the lumber cook 
and cookee who make or mar the success of 
camp life. It is also the cook in the hotel 
camp, and even more, the cook in the hun- 
dreds of thousands of home camps which 
make glad our holiday season. The king 
pin of life, physically — and I might say mor- 
ally, too, for wherever the health is excel- 
lent the morals are likely to be so — is good, 
pure, abundant food, properly cooked. 

Nowhere is the art of cooking put so to 
the test as in camp. You have less to do 
with; you have bigger appetites to do for 
and more need physically for the food you 
eat. There is one article which, if you are 
planning to do more cooking out of doors 
than can be done in a pot of water over a 
fire and a frying pan, you must have, and 
38 



COOK AND COOKEE 

that is a tin reflector baker. One year I 
was caught in the steadiest downpour which 
I have ever known while camping. We were 
on the West Branch of the Penobscot, in an 
isolated region at the foot of Mount Katah- 
din, the highest mountain in the state of 
Maine. We had nothing to sleep under ex- 
cept a tent fly, and the rain drove in night 
and day, keeping us thoroughly wet. Our 
Indian guides managed to make the fire go 
in front of the leaky tar paper shack which 
we used as a kitchen. There was nothing 
we could do profitably but cook, so I amused 
myself cooking. I managed to bake, in the 
rain, before an open fire, within that little 
tin reflector baker, some tarts which were 
very successful. Many other articles, too, 
were cooked and came out thoroughly edi- 
ble. That was indeed a test of the little 
tin baker which I shall never forget. 

There is one sort of kindling fuel unfail- 
ingly useful in the woods. Even the rain 
39 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

cannot dampen its blaze. The fuel to which 
I refer is birch-bark. It will light when 
nothing else will light, I suppose because of 
the large amount of oil in it. Even when 
you take it wet from the ground, instead of 
stripping it from a tree — and you can al- 
ways get an inner layer of dry birch-bark 
from a tree — it will burn and kindle a good 
fire. A box of matches is a natural posses- 
sion for a boy, but I am not so sure that 
this is true with a girl. Every camper 
should have a hard rubber box of matches 
in his possession, should know where it is — 
always in an inside pocket if possible — and 
should take good care of it. But to go back 
to that wet day and the shining little tin 
baker on the West Branch at the foot of 
Katahdin. There are some woods which 
are good for rapid, quiet burning and some 
that are poor, as every experienced woods- 
man will tell you. You must keep, until you 
know it by heart, a check list of different 
40 



COOK AND COOKEE 

kinds of wood, just as you must keep a food 
check list and other check Hsts. If it is a big 
camp fire, which for jollity's sake or the sake 
of warmth you wish to start, and do not care 
to keep going for a long time, almost any 
sort of wood will serve. Brush tops or 
slashings will do quite well to start such a 
blaze. Hickory is the best wood for use 
when you want a deep, quiet hot fire for 
cooking. There is scarcely any better wood 
for the camp cook to use than apple, but that 
most campers are not likely to be able to 
get. The green woods which burn most 
readily and are best to start a quick fire with 
are birch, white and black, hard maple, ash, 
oak, and hickory. The older the tree the 
more pitch there will be in it, and the pitch 
is an effective and noisy kindler of fires. 
Hemlock, spruce, cedar, and the larch, all 
snap badly. I have been obliged to use a 
good deal of cedar in an open Franklin in 
my camp study this last summer. It has 
41 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

never been safe to leave one of these cedar 
fires without shutting the doors of the Frank- 
lin stove. I have known the burning cedar 
to hurl sparks the entire length of the cabin. 
As the chinking is excelsior, you can im- 
agine what one of those cedar sparks would 
do if it snapped onto a bit of the excelsior. 
Cabins not chinked with excelsior are usu- 
ally chinked with moss, which is almost as 
inflammable. With woods that snap, the 
camper can never be too careful, and no fire 
made of snappy wood should ever be built 
near a cabin or a tent. One spark, and it 
might be too late to check the quickly spread- 
ing fire. 

There is another thing about which the 
camp cook and all girls camping need to be 
very careful, and that is the drinking water. 
One cannot be too exacting in this matter, too 
scrupulous, too clean. Provided there is 
spring or lake water about whose purity 
there can be no doubt, the question is settled. 
42 



COOK AND COOKEE 

In this connection it may be said of drink- 
ing: when in doubt, don't. A quarter of a 
mile, a half a mile, a mile, is none too far 
to go to get the right sort of water. This 
can be done in squads, one set of girls going 
one day and another the next. This water 
must be used for the cooking, too. If there 
is any doubt about the water supply, it should 
be filtered or boiled or both. Go into camp 
ready to make pure water one of your chief 
considerations, and never, under any circum- 
stances, drink water or eat anything, even 
fish, which may have been contaminated by 
sewage. How vigilant one has to be about 
this an experience of my own, some months 
ago, will show you. The pond to which we 
were going was indeed in the wilderness, in- 
accessible except by canoe. I had walked 
one long "carry," paddled across a good- 
sized pond — two miles wide, I think — and 
had been poling up some quick-water. The 
"rips" were low, and scratching would bet- 
43 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

ter describe the efforts to which we were put 
than poling does. My hands became so dry 
from the incessant work with the pole that 
I had to wet them to get any purchase on it 
at all. A greased pig could not have been 
harder to hold than that pole. When finally 
we reached the little mountain-surrounded 
pond for which we were making up the 
quickwater, I was hot, breathless, exhausted. 
I could think of only one thing, and that was 
a drink of water. There were a few camps 
about the lake, but it did not enter my mind 
that they would empty their sewage into it 
and take their fish and their water out of it. 
Yet after I had drunk, the first thing I no- 
ticed, in passing one camp, was that they un- 
mistakably did empty their sewage into the 
pond. No evidence was lacking that it all 
went into the water not far from where I 
had taken a drink. It is not a pleasant sub- 
ject, but it is one about which it is necessary 
to speak. 

44 



COOK AND COOKEE 

It is well to take in your kit some place, 
unless you are an accomplished cook and 
have it all in your head, a small, good cook 
book. The first thing which you should re- 
collect about the rougher sort of camping is 
that you will have no fresh eggs or milk with 
which to do your cooking. You should have 
recipes for making your biscuits, johnnycake, 
bread, corn-pone, cakes, flapjacks, cookies, 
potato soup, bean soup, pea soup, chowder, 
rice pudding, and for cooking game and 
fish. In that veteran book for campers, 
"The Way of the Woods," some good 
recipes for the necessary dishes are given. 
Whatever dishes you plan to make in the 
wilderness should be simple and few. Any- 
thing beyond the simplest dietary is not in 
ihe spirit of camp life, and will only detract 
from rather than add to the general 
pleasure. Those recipes which seem to me 
absolutely necessary I will give to you in the 
next chapter. 



CHAPTER V 

LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

DID you ever get to a camp fire or 
log-cabin stove at eleven o'clock 
and know that there must be a 
hearty meal by twelve? I have lots of 
times. The only way to do, if one must 
meet these emergencies on short notice, is to 
have what I call "stock" on hand. In using 
this word I do not mean soup stock, either. 
What I mean is that there must be some 
vegetables or cereals or other articles of food 
at least partially prepared for eating. 

I remember one summer when I was very 
busy with my writing. I was chief cook and 
bottle washer, besides being my own secre- 
tary, and I had three members in my family 
to look out for — a friend with a hearty ap- 
petite, a big dog with a no less hearty appe- 
tite and a rather greedy little Maine cat. 
46 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

The question was how to carry on the work 
which was properly my own and at the same 
time attend to cooking and other household 
work. I hit upon a plan which served excel- 
lently with me. I do not recommend it to 
any one else, especially to girls who will be 
going into the woods for a vacation and will 
have no duties except those connected with 
their camp life. But this plan of mine dem- 
onstrated to me once and for all that, even 
if one is very busy, it is possible to have a 
bountifully supplied table. 

The first day I tried the experiment I 
went into the kitchen at eleven o'clock. 
Never had I been more tired of the everlast- 
ing question of what to have to eat. It 
seemed to me that there was never any other 
question except that one, and I determined, 
with considerable savage feeling, to escape 
from it. At eleven o'clock I chopped my 
own kindling, started my own fire, and be- 
gan twirling the saucepans, frying pans and 
47 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

baking tins which I wanted to use. I was 
set upon cooking up enough food to last for 
three or four days, and I did. At two 
o'clock not only was all the food cooked and 
set away for future consumption, but also 
we had eaten our dinner. In that time what 
had I prepared? There was a big double 
boiler full of corn meal. After this had been 
thoroughly boiled in five times its bulk of 
water and a large tablespoonful of salt, I 
poured it out into baking tins and set it 
away to cool. Various things can be done 
with this stock; among others, once cool, it 
slices beautifully, and is delicious fried in 
butter or in bacon fat, and satisfying to the 
hungriest camper. Also a large panful of 
rice had been cooked. This had been set 
aside to be used in croquettes, In rice pud- 
dings and to be served plain with milk at 
supper time. So much for the rice and the 
corn meal. I had broken up In two-Inch 
pieces a large panful of macaroni. This was 

48 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

boiled in salt water, part of it cooled and set 
away for further use, some of it mixed with 
a canful of tomato and stewed for our din- 
ner and the rest baked with tomato and 
bread crumbs, to be heated up for another 
day. On top of the stove, too, I had a mam- 
moth vegetable stew. In this stew were po- 
tatoes, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, beets, 
turnips, plenty of butter and plenty of salt. 
The stew remained on the stove, carefully 
covered, during the time that the fire was 
lighted and was put on again the next day 
to complete the cooking, for it takes long 
boiling to make a really good stew. Inside 
the oven were two big platefuls of apples 
baking. These had been properly cored and 
the centers filled with butter and sugar and 
cinnamon; also two or three dozen potatoes 
were baking in the oven, some of which 
would serve for quick frying on another day. 
In addition to the food mentioned, I set a 
large two-quart bowl full of lemon jelly with 
49 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

vegetable gelatin. It took me exactly fifteen 
minutes to make this jelly and during that 
time I was giving my attention to other 
things besides. I made also a panful of 
baking powder biscuits which, considering 
the way they were hustled about, behaved 
themselves in a most long-suffering and com- 
mendable fashion, turning out to be good 
biscuits after all. 

Now, the import of all this is that, with 
planning, a little practice and some hopping 
about, a good deal of cooking and prepara- 
tion of food can be done in a short time. 
Unnecessary "fussing" about the cooking is 
not desirable in camp life. The simpler that 
life can be made and kept the better. The 
more we can get away from unwholesome 
condiments, highly seasoned foods, too much 
meat eating and coffee drinking, too many 
sweets and pastries, the better. The girl 
who goes into the woods with the idea of 
having all the luxuries — many of them 
50 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

wholly unnecessary and some of them unde- 
sirable — of her home life, is no true "sport." 
The grand object for which we cook in camp 
is a good appetite and that needs no sauce 
and sweets. 

What are some of the recipes a girl should 
have with her for log-cabin cooking? In 
the first place, we must take with us a good 
recipe for bread-making. There are so many 
I will give none. The best one to have is 
the one used at home, but let me say here 
that no flour so answers all dietetic needs in 
the woods as entire wheat. Delicious bak- 
ing powder biscuits can be made from it as 
well as bread. Also know how to hoil a po- 
tato. You think this is a matter of no im- 
portance? It would surprise you then, 
wouldn't it, to know that there are some peo- 
ple devoting all of their time teaching the 
ignorant and the poor the art of boiling a 
potato. You can boil all the good out of It 
and make it almost worthless as food, as 
51 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

well as untempting, or you can cook it prop- 
erly, making it everything it ought to be. 
Know, too, how to clean a fish. Oh, dear, 
you never could do that! It makes you 
shiver to think of such a thing. Very well 
then, camp is no place for you. Your 
squeamishness which might seem attractive 
some place else will only be silly there, 
making you a dead weight about somebody 
else's neck. Does your brother Boy Scout 
know how to clean a fish? Did you ever 
know a real boy who did not know how to 
clean a fish? Why not a real girl, then, per- 
haps a Camp Fire Girl? Oh, but the cook 
— no, you will be the cook in camp or the 
assistant cook. Then get your brother to 
show you how to cut off its head and to 
scale it, if it is a scaly fish, how to slit it 
open, taking out the entrails, how to wash 
it thoroughly and dry it, how to dip it in 
flour or meal and to drop it into the sizzling 
frying pan, how to turn it and then finally 
52 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

the moment when, crisp and brown, it should 
be taken out and served. Know, too, how to 
pluck and clean a partridge.^ One day this 
last summer I went up the cut behind my 
camp, intent upon finding a partridge for 
our supper. I hadn't gone far before I 
found one and with the second shot of my 
rifle brought the poor fellow down. I took 
him home to the cook whom I had with me 
then, the daughter of a neighboring farmer. 
I gave her the bird and told her to get him 
ready for supper. She said she couldn't; 
she didn't know how. 

''Don't know how?" I asked. ''What do 
you mean?" 

She said that she did not know how to 
pluck and clean a partridge. 

^ If your mother and brother have not taught you 
how to clean fish and pluck partridge, then it would be 
best to go to the butcher and fishman and take lessons 
of them. If it is possible to go on your first expedi- 
tion with a good guide, that will settle the whole diffi- 
culty, for your guide will know the best way and be 
glad to teach you. 

53 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

*'Well/' I replied, "you know how to 
clean a chicken, don't you?" 

"Mercy me, no !" she objected, looking 
pale and silly. "Mother always cleans the 
chickens." 

Mother always cleans the chickens! 
Mother does a good deal too much of the 
things that are somewhat unpleasant in this 
American home life of ours. This girl had 
been perfectly willing that her mother 
should do all the work which seemed to her 
too disagreeable or unpleasant to do herself. 
But I am glad to say, and her mother ought 
to have been grateful to me, she helped in 
dressing that partridge and I did not care a 
tinker when, after it had been cooked, she 
seemed to feel too badly to eat very much of 
it. I wonder how her mother had felt after 
all the hundreds of chickens she had killed, 
plucked, cleaned and cooked for that very 
girl of hers. 

You must know, too, how to boil an egg, 
54 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

and do not do as I saw that same incompe- 
tent farmer's daughter do — I suppose be- 
cause she had left almost everything to her 
very competent mother — do not boil your 
eggs in the tea kettle. The water in the 
tea kettle should be kept as clean and fresh 
as possible. There is no excuse for a dirty 
tea kettle. We should be able in the woods, 
too, to know how to scramble eggs, if one 
has them, and to make omelets, and to boil 
corn meal, and the best ways for cooking 
rice and of baking fruits. Good apple pies, 
too, if you can make pastry without too 
much trouble, will not go amiss. 

There are a few recipes which you must 
get out of the home cook book, besides the 
few which I will now give you. Baking pow- 
der biscuits are not easy to make. Even 
very good cooks sometimes do not have suc- 
cess with them. Do not be discouraged if at 
your first effort you should fail. Keep on 
trying. You must learn, for I think it can 
55 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

be said that baking powder biscuits consti- 
tute the bread of the woods. I know farm- 
ing families in northern Maine who do not 
know what it is to make raised bread. They 
have nothing but baking powder or soda and 
cream of tartar bread. Use one quart of 
sifted flour, one teaspoonful of salt, three 
rounding teaspoonfuls of baking powder, 
one large tablespoonful of butter and enough 
milk, evaporated or powdered milk, or fresh 
if you have it, to make a soft dough. Mix 
these things in the order in which they are 
given, and when the dough is stiff enough to 
be cut with the top of a baking powder can 
or a biscuit cutter, sprinkle your bread and 
also your rolling pin with flour and roll out 
the dough. It will depend upon your oven 
somewhat, but probably it will take you from 
ten to fifteen minutes to bake these biscuits. 
A recipe for corn meal cake, too, should 
be in one's camp kit. The simpler that re- 
cipe the better. Some forms of corn bread 
56 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

take so long to prepare that they are not 
suitable for the woods. The one I shall give 
you will prove practicable. You might take 
one from your own home cook book, too, if 
you wish. Mix the ingredients in the order 
in which they are set down and bake them in 
a moderately hot oven. If you haven't any- 
thing else to use, bread tins a third full will 
serve. One cup of whole corn meal, a half 
a teaspoonful of salt and a cup of sugar, a 
whole cup of flour, three teaspoonfuls of 
baking powder — these should be level — one 
egg, one cup of milk and a tablespoonful of 
melted butter. 

Pancakes you must also know how to 
make. One can't very well get along in the 
wilderness without some sort of griddle 
cake, the simpler the better. Sour milk pan- 
cakes are the best, particularly as it is not 
necessary to use eggs if one has sour milk, 
but that is not always feasible, as frequently 
you will have to use evaporated milk. Mix 
57 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

a pint of flour, a half a teaspoonful of salt, 
a teaspoonful of soda, one pint of sour 
milk, and two eggs thoroughly beaten. See 
that your frying pan, for in camp you will 
cook your cakes in the frying pan, has been 
on the stove some time. Grease it thor- 
oughly with bacon fat or butter; never use 
lard unless you have to. Cook the cakes 
thoroughly. You will find turning your first 
hot cakes something of an adventure. 

There should also be among our log-cabin 
recipes some directions for telling you how 
to make at least two kinds of nourishing 
soup without stock. Soup with stock in camp 
life is not practicable. Pea or bean soups 
are the most satisfying and satisfactory. 
The peas or beans must be soaked in cold 
water over night. Pea or bean soups take a 
long time to make, so that it is not always 
practicable to have them in camp. I will 
give you a recipe for split pea soup. Take 
with you, if you are likely to need it, also, a 
58 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

recipe for black bean soup. After soak- 
ing over night, pour the water off the split 
peas and add to the cup of peas three pints 
of cold water. Do not let the liquid catch 
on the sides of the pan in which the peas are 
simmering. When the peas are soft, rub 
them through a strainer and put them on to 
boil again, adding one tablespoonful of but- 
ter, one of flour, one-half teaspoonful of 
sugar and a teaspoonful of salt. You don't 
need pepper — better leave pepper at home 
and if you get so that you don't miss it in 
camp, then you need never use it again. It 
is wretched stuff, anyway, doing more to 
harm the human stomach than almost any 
other food poison in use. 

Baked beans, too, make a prime dish for 
camp life, partly, I suppose, because, like 
corn meal and pea and bean soups, potatoes 
and the heartier kinds of food, they are so 
satisfying to the camper's appetite. It isn't 
necessary to cook your beans with pork, sub- 
59 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

stltute some kind of nut butter, peanut but- 
ter or almond butter, or plenty of fresh dairy 
butter. The quart of pea beans should be 
soaked In cold water over night. In the 
morning these beans must be put into fresh 
water and allowed to cook until they are soft 
but not broken. Empty them into a colan- 
der and then put them in the bean pot, or if 
you haven't a bean pot, a deep baking dish 
will do. Put in a quarter of a cup of mo- 
lasses and a half cup of butter and pour a 
little hot water over the beans. Keep them 
all day long In an oven that is not too hot. 
Don't put any mustard in your beans; mus- 
tard Is as great an enemy to the human 
stomach as pepper, and that is saying a good 
deal. 

Against a rainy day when you may wish to 
amuse yourselves with additional dishes, or 
a hungry day when you are cold and raven- 
ous, I will add a few more recipes. Corn 
pone is good. This is just corn bread baked 
60 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

on a heated stone propped up before the fire 
till the surface Is seared. Then cover with 
hot ashes and let it bake in them for twenty 
minutes. After that dust your cake and eat 
it. I have told you how to make corn meal 
mush. With butter and sugar (In case you 
have no milk) it is excellent. What do you 
say to some buckwheat cakes on a cold, 
rainy night? If you say "yes," all you have 
to do is to mix the self-raising buckwheat 
flour with a proper amount of water and 
drop some good-sized spoonfuls Into a hot, 
greased frying-pan. The turning of hot 
cakes is the next best fun to eating them. 
Mash your boiled potatoes, season with but- 
ter and salt and milk if you have it. After 
that, call It mashed potato. It is good to eat 
and keeps well for pate cakes or a scallop. 
When hungry, fried potatoes can be eaten 
with impunity by the most zealous dietarlan. 
Fried potatoes are naughty but nice. Mush- 
rooms are nice, too, but dangerous. If you 
6i 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

have a trained botanist or someone who has 
always gathered mushrooms for eating, then 
perhaps it will be safe to cook this bounty 
the woods spread before you. If you must 
have bacon you cannot get bacon that is too 
good. Ferris bacon and hams are the finest 
and most reliable cured pork in this country. 
And since we are speaking of pork and there- 
fore of frying, let me give you one caution: 
Never use the frying-pan when yon can avoid 
doing so. No amount of care can make fried 
foods altogether wholesome. Even an out- 
of-door life cannot altogether counteract the 
bad effects of fried food. You can make 
good broth from small diced bits of game or 
whatever meat you have, when the meat is 
tender, add vegetables and allow the whole 
to boil for some time. Chowder, too, is a 
standard dish for camp life. Take out the 
bones from the fish and cut up fish into small 
pieces. "Cover the bottom of the kettle with 
layers in the following order: slices of pork, 
62 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

sliced raw potatoes, chopped onions, fish, 
hard biscuit soaked (or bread) . Repeat this 
(leaving out pork) until the pot Is nearly 
full. Season each layer. Cover barely with 
water and cook an hour or so over a very 
slow fire. When thick stir gently. Any 
other ingredients that are at hand may be 
added." (Seneca's ''Canoe and Camp Cook- 
ery" and Breck's "Way of the Woods." ) A 
white sauce for fish and other purposes will 
be found useful. Melt tablespoonful of but- 
ter in saucepan; stir In dessert-spoonful of 
flour; add ^ teaspoonful salt; mix with a 
cup of milk. Except for the ginger, ginger- 
bread Is not a bad cake for the woods. One 
cup of molasses, one cup of sugar, one tea- 
spoonful of ginger, one teaspoonful of soda, 
one cup of hot water, flour enough to form a 
medium batter, ^ cup melted butter, and a 
little cinnamon will make it. You might 
experiment with Chinese tea cakes made with 
J4 cup butter, one cup brown sugar, y^ tea- 

63 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

spoonful soda, one tablespoonful of cold 
water, and one cup of flour. Shape this mix- 
ture into small balls, and put on buttered 
sheets and bake in a hot oven. Molasses 
cookies are good and substantial, not a bad 
thing to put in the duffle bag on a day's 
tramp. Use one cup of molasses, one tea- 
spoonful of ginger, one teaspoonful of soda, 
two teaspoonfuls of warm water or milk, J^ 
cup of butter, enough flour to mix soft. Dis- 
solve the soda in milk. Roll dough one-third 
of an inch thick and cut in small rounds. 
Two well known candy recipes will add 
to the pleasures of a rainy day and a 
sweet tooth. Pemiche: Two cups brown 
sugar, % cup milk, butter size of a small nut, 
pinch of salt, one teaspoonful of vanilla, ^ 
cup walnut meats. Boil the first four ingre- 
dients until soft ball is formed when dropped 
in water. Then add vanilla and nuts, and 
beat until cool and creamy. Fudge: 2 cups 
sugar, }i cup milk, 3 tablespoonfuls cocoa, a 
64 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

pinch of salt, butter size of small nut, Yz cup 
walnut meats if desired. Cook same as 
penuche. 

Perhaps, in conclusion, I should advise 
you to learn something about the boiling of 
vegetables and tell you not to cut the top off 
a beet unless you want to see it bleed, and 
lose the better part of it. Put your beet in, 
top and all. When cooked, it will be time 
enough to cut it and pare it. Be sure if you 
cook cabbage that it is cooked long enough, 
and has become thoroughly tender. The 
same is true with parsnips and carrots. If 
you are in a hurry slice up your carrots or 
parsnips or cabbage or potatoes and they 
will cook more rapidly. 

Be sure that your camp dietary has plenty 
of stewed fruits in it. That will be so much 
to the good in the camp health. A bottle of 
olive oil also will prove a great resource; in 
fact, a can of olive oil would be even more 
practical and the oil is always capital food. 
65 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

Although the most elaborate recipes are 
given for making a mayonnaise dressing it 
is really very simple to make, and once made 
can be kept on hand as "stock." I have 
been making mayonnaise since I was a little 
girl, and, as I cook something like the pro- 
verbial darky, I do not know that I am able 
to give you any hard and fast directions for 
making the dressing. With me it is an af- 
fair of impulse; I use either the white of an 
egg or the whole egg, it does not make any 
difference — the shell you will not find pala- 
table — beating it up thoroughly, gradually 
adding the oil, putting In a little lemon juice 
from time to time and plenty of salt. Cay- 
enne pepper is ordinarily used In mayon- 
naise, but If the dressing Is properly sea- 
soned with salt and lemon it needs neither 
cayenne nor mustard. What It does need is 
thorough and long beating, a cool place, and 
a few minutes in which to harden after it is 
made. 

66 



LOG-CABIN COOKERY 

You will learn one thing in the woods 
which perhaps will be a surprise. In that 
life it is men who are the good cooks. In- 
deed, it is surprising how much cleverness 
men show in domestic ways when they are 
left to their own devices and how helpless 
they become as soon as a woman is around. 
If you go astray any woodsman, any guide, 
almost any "sport" can help you out in the 
mysteries of cooking. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PLACE TO CAMP 

FOR most girls the place In which they 
are to camp will depend very largely 
on the locality in which they live. 
But few people want to, or feel that they 
can, travel long distances to secure their 
ideal camping ground. Yet there are some 
things about the place to camp which most 
of us can demand and get. When one has 
learned a little of the art of camping, it is 
really surprising how many good camping 
grounds may be found in one's own imme- 
diate neighborhood. 

The first question to be decided is the sort 
of expedition which we shall undertake. Are 
we going to rough it for a few days or a 
couple of weeks, taking things as they come 
and not expecting any of the comforts we 
68 



THE PLACE TO CAMP 

ordinarily have? Are we going to sleep in 
the open, cook and eat in the open? If we 
are to "pack" all that we shall have along 
with us, is it to be a river trip or a lake 
trip in a canoe? Is it to be a walking expe- 
dition or with horses? The least expensive 
item will prove to be the one that involves 
taking the fewest number of guides, and 
which is carried out on shank's mare. Every 
expedition which is continually on the move 
through an isolated and rough country 
should be equipped with one guide to each 
two people. If it is a stationary camp, one 
guide to three or four people will be the 
minimum. But that is the minimum. Reg- 
istered guides command big pay for their 
work, usually about three dollars a day, and 
their food and lodging provided for them. 

When we cannot make up for our over- 
sight or mistakes or stupidities by trotting 
around the corner to procure what we have 
forgotten, or taking up a telephone and or- 
69 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

dering it sent to us, or sending a message to 
the doctor, who must come because we have 
exhausted ourselves, or got indigestion from 
badly planned and badly cooked food, it be- 
hooves us to be careful. Only a word to the 
wise is necessary. To use a slang phrase 
which contains in a nutshell almost all that 
need be said on the subject: donU bite off 
more than you can chew. If you are start- 
ing out on a strenuous walking expedition, 
be sure that all in the party are accustomed 
to hard walking and are properly shod and 
in fit condition for the work. With these 
requirements attended to, your duffle bags 
full of the right shelter and food stuff, a 
capable man or capable men in charge of 
the expedition, there is nothing in the world 
which could be better for a group of healthy 
girls than a walking tour. I have walked 
scores of miles with my own little pack on 
my back and been all the better for the hard 
work and the hard living. More of us need 
70 



THE PLACE TO CAMP 

hard living as a corrective for our over-civ- 
ilized lives than we need luxuries. If it is 
a canoe trip, it is well for several members 
of the party to know how to paddle and even 
to pole up over the "rips" of quickwater. 
Thank fortune that the girl of to-day has 
sloughed off some of the inane traits sup- 
posed to be excusably feminine, such, for ex- 
ample, as screaming when frightened. The 
modern girl doesn't need to be told that 
screaming and jumping when she goes down 
her first quickwater in a canoe are distinctly 
out of order. I remember one experience in 
quickwater when I was not sure but that I 
should have to jump literally for my life. In 
some way the Indian with whom I was had 
got his setting pole caught in the rocks, and 
we were swung around sidewise over a four- 
foot drop of raging water. If the pole 
loosened before we could get the nose of the 
canoe pointed down stream, the end was in- 
evitable. No one could have lived In those 
71 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

raging waters. The canoe would have been 
rolled over and we pounded to pieces or 
crushed upon the rocks. We clawed the 
racing water madly with the paddles, which 
seemed, for all the good they could do, more 
like toothpicks than paddles. But slowly, 
inch by inch, straining every muscle, we man- 
aged to work around. Needless to say, we 
escaped unharmed, except for a wetting. In 
this case as always, a miss is as good as a 
mile — a little "miss" which was most cor- 
dially received by me. The Indian said 
nothing, but I noticed that there was some 
expression in his face while this adventure 
was going on, and that is saying a good deal 
for an Indian. 

After some of the questions connected 
with the kind of expedition are thought out, 
it is just as well to consider the place in 
which one wishes to camp, for that will de- 
termine much else. All things being equal, 
it is well to get a sharp contrast in locality, 
72 



THE PLACE TO CAMP 

because that means the maximum of change 
and tonic. In my experience there are only 
two kinds of camping grounds to be avoided 
— no, I will say three. First, there is 
swampy, malarial land, infested by mos- 
quitoes and other unpleasant creatures. 
Second, there is ground on which no water 
can be found. Camp life without access to 
water is an impossible proposition. And 
thirdly — a possibility fortunately which does 
not occur in many localities — ground that is 
infested by venomous snakes is unsafe. Even 
in so beautiful and fertile a region as the 
Connecticut Valley, where I live when not at 
my camp in the Moosehead region, and 
where I frequently go camping, the question 
of snakes has to be taken into consideration. 
I have encountered both the rattlesnake and 
the copperhead, two of the most deadly rep- 
tiles known, in the Connecticut Valley. 

If, when you are at home, you live on land 
that is low, and high land is accessible for 
73 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

your expedition, I think you cannot do bet- 
ter than camp on the hills or the mountains. 
On the other hand, if you are ordinarily ac- 
customed to living among the hills, a camp- 
ing ground on low land by sea or lake will 
bring you the greatest change. Some girls 
might prefer to camp deep in the very heart 
of the woods. Personally I do not. I think 
it is likely to be very damp there, and to be 
so enclosed on every side that the life grows 
dull. I like a camping ground on the shore 
of a pond, or on a hill side with a big out- 
look, or at the mouth of a river. 

One of the most beautiful camping 
grounds I have ever known is in a deserted 
apple orchard miles away from civilization. 
Once upon a time there was a farm there, 
but the buildings were all burned down. Re- 
mote, perfect, sheltered, I often think the 
original Garden of Eden could not have been 
more beautiful. And there is the original 
apple tree, but in this case most seductive as 
74 



THE PLACE TO CAMP 

apple sauce. You make a mistake if, before 
you get up your camp appetite, you assume 
that apple sauce need not be taken into ac- 
count. When your camp appetite is up, you 
will find that the original sauce on buttered 
bread will put you into the original para- 
disaic mood. And there are all sorts of ex- 
tension of the apple that are as good as they 
are harmless, apple pie, apple dumpling, ap- 
ple cake, and baked apples. 

It may not seem romantic to you, but you 
will find it practical and, after all, delight- 
ful to camp a mile or so away from a good 
farmhouse, as far out on the edge of the 
wilderness as you can get, for, the farm 
within walking distance, it is possible to have 
a great variety of food: fresh milk and 
cream, eggs, an occasional chicken, new po- 
tatoes, and other vegetables in season. With 
the farm nearby, you can say, as in the 
"Merry Wives of Windsor" : "Let the sky 
rain potatoes!" and you have your wish ful- 
75 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

filled. It is probable, too, that the farmer 
in such an isolated region will be glad to 
help in pitching the tents, in lugging what- 
ever needs to be lugged from the nearest 
village or station, in making camp generally 
and, finally, in striking the camp. It is likely 
that for a reasonable sum he will be glad to 
let you have one of his nice big farm Dob- 
bins and an old buggy for cruising around 
the country. In any event, choose ground 
that affords a good run-off and is dry; select 
a sheltered spot where the winds will not 
beat heavily upon your tents, and never for- 
get that clean drinking water is one of the 
first essentials. Keep away from contami- 
nated wells and all uncertain supplies. With 
these injunctions in mind, you can find only 
a happy, healthful, invigorating home among 
the "primitive pines" or under the original 
apple tree. 



CHAPTER VII 

CAMP FIRES 

"The way to prevent big fires is to put them out while 
they are small." — Chief Forester Graves. 

LIGHTLY do we go into the woods, 
bent upon a holiday. There we 
kindle a fire over which we are 
to cook our camp supper. How good it all 
smells, the wood smoke, the odor of the 
frying bacon and fish and potatoes; how 
good in the crisp evening air the warmth of 
the camp fire feels; and above all, how beau- 
tiful everything is, the deep plumy branches 
on whose lower sides shadows from the fire- 
light dance, the depth of darkness beyond 
the reach of the illuminating flame, the rich 
strange hue of the soft grass and moss on 
which we are sitting! It is all beautiful with 
not a suggestion of evil or terror about it, 
77 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

and yet, unchecked, there is a demon of de- 
struction in that jolly little camp fire before 
which we sit. Now the supper! Nothing 
ever tasted better, nothing can ever taste so 
good again, the fish and bacon done to a 
turn, the potatoes lying an inviting brown 
in the frying pan, and the hot cocoa, made 
with condensed milk, steaming up into the 
cool evening air. 

After supper we lie about the fire and 
sing or dream. Perhaps some one tells a 
story. The hours go so rapidly that we do 
not know where they have gone. And when 
the evening is over? The fire is still glow- 
ing, a bed of bright coral coals and gray ash. 
The fire will just go out if we leave it. Be- 
sides, we haven't time to fetch water to put 
it out with. No, nine chances out of ten, if 
we leave the fire it will not go out, but smoul- 
der on, and a breeze coming up in the night 
or at dawn, the fire springs into flame again, 
catching on the surrounding dry grass and 

78 




NESSMUK RANGE. 




SMALL COOK FIRE. 



79 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

pine needles. Soon, incredibly soon, it be- 
gins to leap up the trunks of trees. Before 
we know it, it is springing from tree to tree, 
faster than a man can leap or run. 

In dry weather you and I could go out into 
the woods anywhere, and with a match not 
much bigger than a good-sized darning 
needle, set a blaze that would sweep over a 
whole county, or from county to county, or 
from state to state. Millions of dollars' 
worth of damage would be done, and the 
chances are that the careless, wanton act 
would be the means of having us put into 
prison — which is precisely where, given such 
circumstances, we should be. 

Have we ever stopped to think for a mo- 
ment, we who camp so joyfully, what loss 
and injury such carelessness on our part may 
mean to a whole community? To begin 
with, there are the forests themselves, and 
all they represent in actual timber, in prom- 
ise for future growth, and in security for 
80 



CAMP FIRES 

rain supply. Then In fighting the fire thou- 
sands of dollars' worth of wages will have 
to be paid and hundreds of men's lives will 
be in danger. The sweep and fury of such 
forest fires, unless one has lived in the neigh- 
borhood of one as I have, is beyond the com- 
prehension or the imagination. Burning 
brands are blown sixty feet and more over 
the tops of the highest trees and the heads 
of the men who are fighting the fire. Be- 
fore they can check the blaze of the fire 
nearest them, one beyond them has already 
been started. 

Also there are the life aspects, big and 
small, of such a fire. Not only are the lives 
of the men who fight the blaze endangered, 
but all the homes, camps, farmhouses, vil- 
lages, and their inmates are in imminent risk. 
What it has taken others years to gather to- 
gether, to construct, may be swept away in 
a few hours. Helpless old people, equally 
helpless little children — all may be burned. 
§1 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

Beyond this question of human life, which 
every one will admit is a very great one, is 
still another which, I am sorry to say, will 
not seem so important to some girls. Maybe 
it is not, but if you have ever heard the 
screams of an animal, terrified by fire, being 
burned to death, as I have; if you have ever 
heard the blind frenzied terror of the stam- 
pede which takes place, the beating of hoofs 
and the screams of creatures that are trying 
to escape, but do not know how, as I have 
heard them — then you will have a new sense 
of the tragedy which a forest fire means to 
the creatures of the forest. Of a forest fire 
it may be said, as of an evil, that there is 
absolutely no good in it: it is all bad, all de- 
vastating, all injurious. 

In a forest fire scores, hundreds, thou- 
sands of wild creatures are killed, those lit- 
tle creatures which, given the chance, are so 
friendly with their human brothers. Think, 
the little chickadees, tame, gay, resourceful, 
82 



CAMP FIRES 

filling even the winter woods with their 
song, the tiny wrens, the beautiful thrushes, 
the squirrels and chipmunks, who need only 
half an invitation and something on the table 
to accept your offer of a nut cutlet, the rabbit 
who lets you come within a few feet of him 
while he still nibbles grass, and looks trust- 
ingly at you out of his round prominent eyes, 
the bear that thrusts his head out of the edge 
of the woods, full of curiosity to see what 
you are doing, the deer, even the little fawn, 
who will become your playmate and take 
sugar from your hand — all these trusting, 
interested, friendly creatures are killed by 
the hundreds of thousands in a forest fire. 
The smoke stifles them, the loud reports of 
the wood gases escaping from the burning 
trees terrify them, and the light and heat 
confuse them. It is difl'icult to find a single 
good thing to say for a forest fire. It spells 
devastation, loss, untold suffering, and in Its 
path there is only desolation. The merciful 
83 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

fire-weed springs up after it, trying with its 
summer flame to cover the black ravage, 
the gutted ground, where the demon has 
burned deep into the peaty subsoil. Every- 
where one sees what an awful fight for life 
has taken place : thousands of little birds, 
suffocated by the smoke, have dropped into 
the flames, thousands of creatures, tortured 
by the heat, have rushed into the fire instead 
of away from it. Worse than the flood is 
fire, because the suffering is so much the 
greater. Somehow there is something ut- 
terly, irredeemably tragic to any one who 
has gone over these great fire-swept stretches 
of land in our country; the thick stagnant 
water that is left, the charred bones, and 
the look of waste which shall never meet in 
the space of a human life with repair. 

No time to put out the camp fire? That 
little fire will just go out of itself, will it? 
Yes, probably, when it has accomplished 
what I have described for you, when it has 

84 



CAMP FIRES 

killed happy life, razed the beautiful trees, 
gutted out the earth, and devoured, careless 
of agony, all that it will have. Fire is the 
dragon of our modern wilderness, and it will 
be glutted and gorged, and not satisfied until 
it is. That jolly little camp fire is worth 
keeping an eye on, it is worth the trouble, 
even if we have to go half a mile to fetch it, 
to get a pail of water and ring the embers 
around with the wet so that the fire cannot 
spread. Never leave a camp fire burning; 
no registered guide would do such a thing, 
and no sportsman. It is only those who 
don't know or who are criminally careless 
who would. If the public will not take re- 
sponsibility in this matter, the fire wardens 
are helpless. Some enemies these men must 
inevitably fight: the lightning which strikes a 
dead, punky stump in the midst of dry 
woods, which, smouldering a long while, fi- 
nally bursts into flame; the spark from an 
engine; even spontaneous combustion due to 
85 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

imprisoned gases acted upon by sun-heat. 
But there is one enemy which the fire war- 
dens should not need to meet, and that is 
man: the boy or girl camping, the man who 
drops a cigar stump or match carelessly onto 
dry leaves, the hunter who uses combustible 
wadding in his shotgun. Let us help the fire 
wardens, those men who live on lonely moun- 
tain summits or in the midst of the wilder- 
ness with eyes ever vigilant to detect the 
starting of a fire — let us help, I say, these 
fire wardens to get rid of one nuisance at 
least, and let us keep our great, cool, won- 
derful American forests as beautiful as they 
have ever been and should always be for 
those who are in a holiday humor. 



CHAPTER VIII 

OTHER SMOKE 

THERE will not be much opportu- 
nity to dwell on all the wealth of 
information that comes to the 
real camper. The life of the woods is not 
only a lively one, but one teeming with intel- 
ligences and the kind of information which 
one can get no place else. My years of 
camping have stored my mind full of pic- 
tures and full of memories about which I 
could write indefinitely. In the practical ac- 
tivities of camp life we mustn't forget that 
the silent wonderful life of the wilderness 
is ours to study if we but bring keen eyes to 
it, quick hearing and receptive minds. 

Let me tell you of one experience which 
I had some four years ago on the edge of a 
solitary little pond m the forest wilderness. 
87 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

Our way lay over a narrow trail, now 
through birches full of light, then through 
maples, past spruce and other trees, down, 
down, down toward the little pond which lay 
like a jewel at the bottom of a hollow. It 
was a favorite spot for beavers and we were 
going to watch them work. Their rising 
time is sundown, so we should be there be- 
fore they were up. It was growing quieter 
and quieter in the ever-quiet woods, and when 
we hid ourselves behind some bushes near 
the edge of the pond on the opposite side 
from the beaver houses, there was scarcely 
a sound, and the drip of the water from a 
heron's wings as the bird mounted in flight, 
seemed astonishingly loud. 

Soon the beavers, unaware of us, came 
out of their houses and began to work, 
steadily and silently. We knew them for 
what they were, builders of dams, of 
bridges, of houses, mighty In battle so that 
a single stroke from their broad flat tails 
88 



OTHER SMOKE 

kills a dog Instantly, wood cutters, carriers 
of mud and stone — animals endowed with 
almost human Intelligence and with an In- 
dustry greater than human. And I never 
saw work done more quietly, efficiently and 
silently than I did that night by the edge of 
Beaver Pond. 

As we sat there peering through the 
bushes I thought Instinctively of the silent 
work which we do within ourselves or which 
Is done for us. Deep down within us so 
much Is going on of which *'we," as we 
speak of the conscious outer self, are not 
aware. Take, for example, the frequent 
and common experience of forgetting a word 
or a name. Despite the greatest effort we 
cannot recall It, and finding ourselves help- 
less we dismiss the matter from our minds 
and go on to other things. Suddenly, with- 
out any seeming effort on our part the word 
has come to us. Now this reveals a great 
truth about a great silent power : all we have 
89 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

to do is to set the right forces to work and 
frequently the work is done for us. With 
this serviceable power within us, why not 
make use of it habitually? It renews itself 
constantly and waits for us to call upon it 
for protection, for comfort, for correction 
and strength. It insists only that we think 
as nearly rightly as we can. Beavers of si- 
lence are busy within us. 

Much of the work of this silent power is 
done in our sleep-time. It is important, 
therefore, that our last thoughts at night and 
our first in the morning should be the best of 
which we are capable. Prayer is a profound 
acknowledgment of this power within us. 
We have all heard the expression, "the night 
brings counsel." And probably most of us 
have said, "Oh, well, we'll just sleep on 
that!" Why "sleep on it"? Because we 
have confidence in this silent power whose 
processes, whether we sleep or wake, are 
constantly at work within us, even as night 
go 



OTHER SMOKE 

and day, a natural power, directs the growth 
of tree and flower. Again we have counted 
upon the work of industrious beavers of si- 
lence — the silent workers within each one of 
us. 

The woods are full of lessons never to be 
learned any place else. Insensibly are we, 
in this vast big intelligent life of the forest, 
led on to meditate about the things we see. 
I often wish not only that I could place my- 
self at certain times in those solitary places 
by edge of pond, deep in forest, on the hill- 
side, following the trail, but also that I 
might send a friend or two to the healing 
which can be found in the wilderness. For 
example, the girls who find nothing but 
troubles and vexations in life, who groan if 
the conversation languishes, are likely to 
have some of their troubles slip away from 
them and their talk become more cheerful. 
Who can be in the woods, who can live in 
the great out of doors and not feel optimis- 
91 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

tic, at least hopeful and interested? To 
every girl inclined to be moody, often to 
suffer from the conviction that living is dif- 
ficult and perhaps not worth while, I com- 
mend camp life. Activity, distraction are its 
powerful and wholesome remedies for mel- 
ancholy. In that life one is obliged to work 
mind and body much as the beavers work, 
one's attention is held to something every 
minute. The whole current of our thoughts 
has been changed and for the time being we 
are distracted from the old bruised ways of 
thinking. The very alteration that comes 
with wood life gives us a chance to think 
rightly. Who can be troubled or bored or 
bad tempered and follow the trail? Who 
can be indifferent and be conscious of the 
energy and intelligence of beaver and squir- 
rel, of rabbit and bird, of deer and moose? 
Soon the whole misery-breeding brood of 
cares, of doubts, of perplexities that existed 
before we left our home drop away from us. 
92 



OTHER SMOKE 

We can use the Influence of this vast sane 
Hfe of the wilderness for ourselves and by 
its strength make good. 



CHAPTER IX 

FITTING UP THE CAMP FOR USE 

ANY girl who has crossed the ocean 
knows how impossible, the first 
time she entered her httle white 
cabin, that bit of space looked as a place 
in which to sleep and to spend part of her 
time. There seemed to be no room in it 
for anything; it was difficult to turn 
around in, there were so few hooks on which 
to hang things, and the berth — dear me, that 
berth ! So her thoughts ran. Yet gradually, 
as she learned the ropes, she was able to 
make it homelike. With experience she 
learned that the more bags she had in which 
to put things, the easier it was to keep this 
little stateroom in order. The next time she 
took with her every conceivable sort of bag 
for every conceivable sort of object. Also 
94 



FITTING UP THE CAMP FOR USE 

she had learned that the more she could do 
without unnecessary things in her cabin and 
steamer trunk, the more comfort was hers 
to enjoy. By the time she had crossed the 
ocean often, she had learned the aft of hav- 
ing little but all that she needed with her — 
the art of making herself comfortable in a 
stateroom. 

Even so is there an art in learning how to 
camp, a happy art of which there is always 
something left to learn. The oldest camp- 
ers never get beyond the point where they 
can make a slight improvement in their kit 
or their methods. In the end you will work 
out your own salvation for the kind of camp- 
ing you wish to do. It is my intention to 
point out to you only what might be called 
the ground plan of fitting up a camp for use. 
Those little individual adaptations which 
every one of us makes, increasing familiarity 
with camp life will help you to make for 
yourselves. 

95 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

First, last, and always, when making out 
your camp lists, revise them carefully with 
the idea of cutting out everything unneces- 
sary. All besides what you actually need 
will be clutter. The best way to do is to 
make out your lists, putting down every- 
thing that comes to you. Then go over them 
by yourselves and a second time with some 
one else. Your check lists for camp are im- 
portant and should always be conscientiously 
made out, with nothing left to chance, noth- 
ing done hit or miss. 

If you are to furnish a camp, remember 
that your packing boxes can do great work 
in helping to set you up in your new home. 
In rough camping such boxes do well for 
dressers, washstands and, with a little car- 
pentry, also for clothes presses. A piece of 
enameled cloth on the top of the one to be 
used as a washstand, and a towel or white 
curtain strung on a string in front of it, be- 
hind which you can put dirty clothes, make 

96 



FITTING UP THE CAMP FOR USE 

a thoroughly satisfactory article of furni- 
ture. In camp there is no need to think 
about elegance. Fitness and usefulness are 
all the girl need ever consider. It is aston- 
ishing how much beauty your homely cabin 
and white tent will acquire — a beauty all 
their own. 

For tent camping the usual camp cot bed 
is probably most satisfactory, for it is light 
and readily carried. If you are on the march 
and carrying at the most a tent fly for pro- 
tection, you will, of course, sleep on bough 
beds or browse beds. Small, cut saplings, 
well trimmed, make good springs for beds. 
Any guide can help you to make the beds, 
and you would better be about it early, for 
it takes a good three-quarters of an hour to 
make a comfortable bough bed. Perhaps a 
few suggestions will not come amiss. You 
will, of course, have both good hunting 
knives, worn in a leather sheath on a leather 
belt, and belt-sheath hatchets. With the 
97 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

hatchet cut down a stout little balsam tree. 
From this break the tips from the big 
branches, having them about one foot in 
length. These foot-length stems make 
good bed springs and are the only bed 
springs you will have on a balsam couch un- 
less you provide the spring yourself because 
of some green worm who is industriously 
measuring off the length of your nose, no 
doubt in amazement that there should be 
anything so extraordinarily long in the 
world. However, he is a harmless little 
chap, and the balsam tree having treated 
him very kindly, he will be greatly surprised 
at any other kind of entertainment which he 
may receive from you. Now, having got your 
''feathers," select a smooth piece of ground 
with a slight slope toward the foot. Press 
the stems of the feathers into the earth, lay- 
ing them tier after tier as you have seen a 
roof shingled, until your bed is wide enough, 
long enough, and soft enough to give you a 

98 



i^" 



\>^ 



¥A 



^hi^ 




DR. CARRINGTON'S SLEEPING BAG 




"KENWOOD" SLEEPING BAG. 




RUSTIC CAMP COT. 

99 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

good and sweet-scented night of sleep upon 
it. Lay a fair-sized log along each side and 
across the foot. This balsam bough bed can 
be made up as often as you wish with fresh 
feathers. Place one blanket on top and it is 
ready for your use. If you have got pitch 
on your hands in doing this, rub them with 
a little butter or lard and it will come off. 

There is still an easier bed to make. A 
bag of stout bed ticking, filled with leaves 
and grass, forms an excellent mattress and 
has the virtue of being portable, for the bag 
can always be emptied, folded up, packed, 
and refilled at the next camp ground. A thin 
rubber blanket or poncho laid over this 
makes it an absolutely dry bed at all times. 
If you are to camp in a log cabin, probably 
the most comfortable bed for you to plan is 
a spring, bought at the nearest village, and 
nailed onto log posts a foot and a half high. 
With your ticking mattress filled with straw, 
your day lived in the great out of doors, no 

lOO 



FITTING UP THE CAMP FOR USE 

one will need to wish you pleasant slumber. 
It is well to have a good supply of tarla- 
tan on hand. This is finer than mosquito 
netting and therefore more impervious to 
stinging insects. If you camp in June, or 
the first week or so in July, you are likely 
in many parts of the country to find black 
flies, mosquitoes, and midges to battle 
against. There should be enough tarlatan 
to use over the camp bed and also enough to 
cover completely a hat with a brim and to 
fall down about the neck, where it can be 
tied under the collar. A more expensive 
head-net of black silk Brussels net can be 
made. This costs a good deal more, but 
the great advantage of it is, that the black 
does not alter the colors of the world out 
upon which one looks. Don't make any 
mistake about the importance of some kind 
of netting and fly dope, or "bug juice," as 
the antidotes for insect bites are sometimes 
called. There are various kinds of fly dope, 

lOI 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

any one of which is likely to prove useful. 
There is an excellent recipe for the making 
of your own fly dope in Breck's "Way of the 
Woods," which I give here.^ A tiny vial of 
ammonia will also prove useful. One drop 
on a bite will often stop further poisoning 
from an insect sting. Inquiries should al- 
ways be made beforehand whether one is 
likely to encounter black flies and midges. 
Those who have met them once are not 
likely to wish to have a second unprotected 
meeting. They are the pests of the woods 
and the wilderness. 

I will give, just as they occur to me, a few 



^ "Breck's Dope: 

Pine tar 3 oz, 

Olive oil 2 " 

Oil pennyroyal 1 " 

Citronella 1 " 

Creosote 1 " 

Camphor (pulverized) 1 " 

Large tube carbolated vaseline. 
Heat the tar and oil and add the other ingredients; 

simmer over slow fire until well mixed. The tar may be 

omitted if disliked." 



I02 



FITTING UP THE CAMP FOR USE 

other articles which will be useful In the camp 
life: a small cake of camphor to break over 
things In the knapsack and keep off crawl- 
ers; a small emergency box containing sur- 
geon's plaster and the usual things; vaseline, 
witch hazel; jack knife; tool kit; a map of 
the region In which you are camping and a 
diary In which to take notes. To these might 
be added sewing articles, a sleeping bag if 
you care to use one, and a folding brown 
duck waterpall. The catalog from any 
sporting goods place will suggest a thousand 
other articles which you may care to have. 

With a few planks to saw up Into lengths, 
and a few white birch saplings, a most at- 
tractive camp dinner table can be made. 
Over this a piece of white oilcloth should 
be laid and kept clean by the use of a little 
sapolio. It Is best not to buy an expensive 
stove for the cabin. A second-hand kitchen 
range, which can be purchased for a few 
dollars, will do quite well for the cooking 
103 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

cabin or shack, and an open Franklin stove 
for the living cabin. If one is going to camp 
in tents and wants a stove in one of them, 
it will be necessary to buy a regular tent 
stove. Anything else would not be safe. 

As far as actual furniture is concerned, 
except for camp stools or benches and camp 
chairs, if you wish to be very elegant, the 
camp is now furnished. But there are still 
to be considered the necessary utensils for 
cooking and other purposes. I will enum- 
erate them again just as they occur to me, 
and not necessarily in the order of their im- 
portance: kerosene oil can, molasses jug, 
pails, a tin baker, a teapot, tin and earthen 
dishes, tin and earthen cups, basins for 
washing, pans for baking and for milk, dish- 
pans, dishmop, double boiler, broiler, knives, 
forks, teaspoons, tablespoons, mixing spoons, 
pepper box, salt shaker, nutmeg grater, flour 
sifter, can opener, frying pans — one with a 
long handle for use in cooking over open 
104 



FITTING UP THE CAMP FOR USE 

fires — butcher knife, bread knife, lantern, 
bucket, egg beater, potato masher, rolling 
pin, axe, hatchet, nails, hammer, toilet paper, 
woolen blankets, rubber blankets, crash for 
dish towels, yellow soap, some wire, twine, 
tacks, and a small fireless cooker if you know 
how to use one. A good fireless cooker can 
be built on the premises. 

Possessed of these articles, any one who 
knows anything about the woods can be most 
comfortable. They can, of course, be added 
to indefinitely. One may make camp life as 
expensive and complicated as one pleases. 
But to do that seems a pity, for it is against 
the very good and spirit of the wilderness 
life. The wood life and all its new and in- 
vigorating experience should take us back to 
nature. It is for that we go into the wilder- 
ness and not to bring with us the luxuries of 
civilization. Part of the wholesomeness of 
camp life lies in learning to do without, in 
the fine simplicity which we are obliged to 
105 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

practice there. Common sense is the law of 
the wilderness life, and let us be sure that 
we follow that law. 



CHAPTER X 

THE POCKETBOOK 

ONE of the objects of some girls 
on their camping expeditions is 
to keep the trip from becom- 
ing too expensive. The maximum of value 
must be got from the minimum of pence. 
And I think that is as it should be, for, 
with economy, the life is kept nearer a 
simple ideal, is made more active and more 
wholesome. All sorts and conditions of 
camping have been my lot, the five-dollar-a- 
day camping in a log cabin (?) equipped 
with running water and a porcelain tub, and 
the kind of camping one does under a fly 
with the rain and sunshine and wind driving 
in at their pleasure. Although I do not ad- 
vise the latter as far as health results are 
concerned, given that the party is in fair 
107 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

condition they will be none the worse for the 
experiment. 

Camping for a party of four or five should 
usually cost something between eight dollars 
and eighteen dollars apiece per week. This 
rate includes a guide and a good deal of 
service, a rowboat, a canoe, and no care 
about food. But the longer I camp the more 
I am of the opinion that the simpler and 
more independent the life is, the greater 
health and pleasure it will bring. It has 
been said about camping, "Much for little: 
much health, much good fellowship and good 
temper, much enjoyment of beauty — and all 
for little money and, rightly judged, for no 
trouble at all." 

The girl who is the right sort gets more 
fun out of camp life when she does at least 
part of the work herself. Let her economize 
and use her own Ingenuity and do the work. 
Any group of three or four girls can provide 
all the necessary "grub" for themselves at $3 
108 




FBAZliLCAMOE TENT. WATERPROOF DINING FLYS FOR WALL TErCT 



109 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

a week per capita. This sum does not in- 
clude rental or purchase of tent. A good 
tent, 7x7, big enough for two at a pinch, 
can be bought complete (this does not include 
fly) for about $7. You can get tents second- 
hand often for a song, or as a loan, or you 
can rent your tent for 10 cents a day. Get 
at least a few numbers of one or several of 
the following sporting magazines: Outing, 
Country Life in America, Forest and Stream, 
Field and Stream, Recreation, Rod and Gun 
in Canada. Look in the advertisement pages 
of these magazines for the names of sporting 
goods houses and send for catalogs. Then 
choose your style of tent. The different kinds 
of tents are legion. The Kenyon Take- 
Down House, too, is a capital camp home. 
It is "skeet"-proof and fly-proof. Send to 
Michigan for a catalog, and then go like 
the classic turtle with your shell on your back. 
In groups of four or more, the $10 laid by 
for a vacation should bring two holiday 
no 



THE POCKETBOOK 

weeks — possibly a day or so over; $15, three 
weeks and a bit over, and $20 a whole glori- 
ous month. Expensive camping may be the 
"style" in certain localities, but it is not neces- 
sarily the "fun." 

For eight weeks this past summer my 
family of two members camped with two 
servants. In addition we had the occasional 
services of a man who did all the heavy 
work. There was not enough for the serv- 
ants to do in the cottage and log cabin of 
our establishment. They were discontented, 
faultfinding, and wholly out of the spirit of 
camp life. All of the day that their tone of 
voice reached was helplessly ruined. The 
only way to keep the camp joy and pleasure 
was to keep out of their way. On our camp 
table we had silver, embroidered linen 
cloths, the same food, in almost the same 
variety, that we had it at home, and the 
same amount of service. All I can say is 
that it was a perfect nuisance — as perfectly 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

planned and executed a nuisance as one could 
well conceive. Everywhere these servants 
looked they found things which did not suit 
them. What I think they wished was a mod- 
est twenty-thousand-dollar cottage in that 
great and wonderful wilderness. 

In the autumn I camped alone for two 
weeks in a log cabin. I say alone. I was not 
alone, for I had three friends with me — a 
collie puppy, a blind fawn, and a year-old 
cat. They were the best of companions — 
for better I could not have asked. I never 
heard a word of faultfinding, and I was wit- 
ness to a great deal of joy. It is a curious 
fact about camp life that if a girl has weak 
places in her character, if she is selfish or 
peevish or faultfinding or untidy, these 
weaknesses will all come out. But my four- 
footed friends were good nature itself, 
young, growing, happy, contented. And 
they had excellent appetites. I tell you this 
because I want you to see how much of an 

XI2 




FRAME FOR BOUGH LEAN-TO. 




BOUGH LEAN-TO. 



113 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

item their food was in the expenses I shall 
enumerate. This might be called a little in- 
timate history of at least one camp pocket- 
book. The fawn had a quart of milk a day 
and much lettuce, together with the kind of 
food which deer live upon: leaves, grass, 
clover, ferns. I had to pay for her bedding 
of hay. The puppy and the cat shared an- 
other quart of milk between them. The cat 
hunted by night, but the puppy was fed en- 
tirely by hand on bread, milk, an occasional 
egg, cereals, and vegetables. My own fare 
consisted of all the bread and butter I 
wished, cocoa, condensed milk, bananas, ap- 
ples, eggs, potatoes, beans, nuts, raisins, 
cauliflower, chocolate, and a few other ar- 
ticles. And there was, too, the denatured 
alcohol to be paid for — a heavy item, for I 
used only a chafing dish and a small spirit 
lamp. The milk was eight cents a quart on 
account of the carriage, the butter was 
thirty-eight cents a pound, the eggs twenty- 
114 



THE POCKETBOOK 

five cents a dozen. Except for cutting up 
and splitting the wood for my open Frank- 
lin stove, the wood cost me nothing. But I 
paid a man a dollar for half a day's work. 
We weren't seven, but we were four In that 
camp community. How much do you think 
the food for all averaged per week in those 
two weeks? Three dollars a week, and we 
had all that we wanted and more, too. 

When girls plan carefully and intelli- 
gently, when they exercise good sense In the 
cooking and care of food, there Is no reason 
why, with a party of four or five girls, from 
three dollars to four dollars apiece per week 
should not cover all living, exclusive, of 
course, of the traveling expenses. And the 
camping can be done for less. I commend 
these expense Items to all Vacation Bureaus 
and to Camp Fire Girls. 

In the two weeks I camped alone I was 
very busy with my writing. To this I was 
obliged to give most of the daylight. Be- 
115 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

sides this, I had much business correspond- 
ence to attend to. It takes time to care prop- 
erly for animals, and my pets had not only 
to be fed, but also to be brushed and gen- 
erally cared for. I planned to spend some 
time every day with the blind fawn so that 
I might amuse her. I did all these things, 
took care of my little cabin, had time for a 
walk every afternoon, and went to bed when 
the birds did, to get up the next morning at 
five o'clock. Had I been able to give my 
thought entirely to the food question, I am 
certain that the expense of these Items might 
have been made even less. 

Some girls will think this Is getting back 
to the simple life with a vengeance. So It was 
but I can assure you that those two weeks 
were most happy and profitable in every 
way — far better than the over-served, over- 
fed months which had preceded them. For 
any girl who needs to forget how superfi- 
cial to the real needs of life the luxuries are; 
ii6 



THE POCKETBOOK 

for any girl who is lazy in household ways; 
for any girl who needs character building; 
for any girl who is in need of deep breath- 
ing and the pines; for any girl who wants 
more active life than she gets in her own 
home; for any girl who is of an experi- 
mental or adventurous turn of mind; for 
any girl who needs to be drawn away from 
her books; for any girl who wants to form 
new friendships in a big, sane, and beautiful 
world where the greetings are all friendly; 
for any girl — for every girl — who wants 
much for little; the log cabin, the tent, the 
shack in the wilderness, by pond or lake, 
upon the hillsides or in the valleys, will 
prove a "joy forever." 



CHAPTER XI 

THE CAMP DOG 

WHEN I began to go into the wil- 
derness to camp, I was much 
more credulous than I am now. 
Everywhere I went in the woods I saw an 
implement which looked like a cross between 
a pickaxe with a long handle and the largest 
pair of tweezers ever seen. This was al- 
ways lying up against something as if just 
ready for use, much as one sees an axe rest- 
ing against a cabin wall or on a chopping 
block. I couldn't make out what this could 
be used for. Finally, curiosity getting the 
better of me and no opportunity for seeing 
it used offering itself, I asked. 

"Oh, that," answered the guide with a 
twinkle in his eye, "that is the camp dog." 
ii8 



THE CAMP DOG 

"How nice!" I thought. "Why is it 
called camp dog?" 

"Well, you see It does most of the work 
for us and being so faithful and handy 
we've just got naturally Into the way of call- 
ing It a camp dog." 

I was still more impressed when he gave 
me then and there several Illustrations of 
its usefulness. But the end of the tale of 
the camp dog is not yet, — In fact It was a 
very long tale for me, the end of which you 
shall have in good season. 

Generally speaking It may be said that it 
is the guide and not this implement which is 
the camp dog. It is he who is faithful, al- 
ways handy, always willing. And it is he 
who is more Imposed upon than any other 
member of the camp community. The guide 
is a responsible person, — the responsible 
person. He Is usually registered and his 
pay is always good. He needs every dollar 
he gets and every bit of authority, too, for 
119 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

he works hard and often for groups of 
people who are thorough in only one re- 
spect and that is in their irresponsibihty. 
The guide has to be sure that fires are kin- 
dled in the right places and that they are 
really out when they should be; he must 
keep his party from foolhardy acts of any 
kind; he must be sure that they have a good 
time and certain that they are not overtaxed; 
if it comes off cold or is cold, he must keep 
them warm; he must see, despite every vicis- 
situde, that they are enjoying themselves; he 
must do the cooking — and he must be a 
good cook, — boil the coffee, wash the 
dishes, pitch and strike the tents; he must 
pilot the members of the party to the best 
places for fishing, often bait their hooks or 
teach them how to bait, dig their worms; 
and give their first lessons in casting a fly; 
must instruct them in all necessary wood 
craft and keep them from shooting wildly; 
he must see that the game laws of the state 
1 20 



THE CAMP DOG 

are observed, also the fire laws; if anything 
should happen to a member of his party, 
he will, in all likelihood, be held responsible 
for it; and finally, always and all the time, 
no matter how he himself feels, he must be 
agreeable, obliging, useful. 

Now if the man who has all these bur- 
dens to bear is not a camp dog, I should 
like to know what he is? To those of us 
who have been into the woods year after 
year, it is a sort of boundless irritation to 
see some members of the camping party 
sitting about idle while the guide does the 
work. Part of the value of camp life is its 
activity, its activities. Another part of its 
good is the skill which comes from learn- 
ing to be useful in the woods. The life out- 
of-doors should be a constant training in 
manual work, — call it wood work if you 
wish. I am reminded of a story told in 
"Vanity Fair" about a lazy, indifferent stu- 
dent who was in the class of a famous physi- 

121 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

cist. The freshman sprawled in the rear 
seat and was sleeping or was about to go 
to sleep. 

"Mr. Fraser," said the physicist sharply, 
"you may recite." 

Fraser opened his eyes but he did not 
change his somnolent pose. 

"Mr. Fraser, what Is work?" 

"Everything Is work." 

"What, everything Is work?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then I take it you would like the class 
to believe that this desk is work?" 

"Yes, sir," wearily, "wood work." 

From the moment that school of the 
woods Is entered every girl has her wood 
work cut out for her, if she is taking camp- 
ing in the right spirit. It is all team play 
in the wilderness, or If it is not, it is a rather 
poor game. Helpfulness is one of the first 
rules and every camper should be willing 
to help the guide. Usually the guides are a 

122 



THE CAMP DOG 

fine set of self respecting, dignified, resource- 
ful men. And I think it might be said with 
considerable truthfulness that when they are 
not what they ought to be, it Is nine times 
out of ten due to the undesirable Influence 
of the parties they have worked for. Your 
guide Is your equal in most respects and 
your superior In others. He should be met 
on a footing of equality. I use this word 
advisedly and I do not mean familiarity. 
Well-bred girls do not meet anyone, whether 
In the wilderness or In civilization, on 
this footing Immediately. The party should 
be willing and glad to help the guide in 
every possible way. That does not signify 
doing his work for him but it does indicate 
helping him. 

A routine of some sort should be adopted 
and Is one of the best ways to assist him. 
One girl should be on duty at one time and 
another at another and all In regular rota- 
tion. No camp life can go on successfully 
123 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

without some law and order of this sort. For 
it is just as necessary for the smooth running 
of household wheels In the log cabin as It 
Is in the city home. Whoever occupies the 
guide's position, that is the one who is chief- 
ly responsible for everything, should be ably 
helped by the whole party but not by the 
whole party at the same time. Evolve a 
system for the particular conditions of the 
camp life In which you find yourself and 
stick to it. Let one girl or one set of girls 
help one day and another the next. Let the 
girl be detailed to do one kind of work one 
day and another another. This system, 
with proper rotation, means that nobody 
gets tired of her work. A girl cannot be 
too self-reliant if she Is ever to be wise in 
the way of the woods. There Is no need 
for discouragement If everything Is not 
learned at once, for camping Is like skating 
and is an art to be learned only through 
many tumbles and mistakes. Be prepared 
124 



THE CAMP DOG 

to take it and yourself lightly — in short, to 
laugh readily over the mistakes made in the 
art of living in the woods. 

Now we have come to the very tip of the 
tail of the camp dog. You will be interested 
to know how an old timer was obliged to 
laugh at herself. I am ashamed to tell you 
how recently this occurred. I was in the 
northernmost wilderness of the state of 
Maine, and near a big lumber camp, when 
I saw a "camp dog" lying on the ground, 
its long axe handle shining from use, its 
pickaxe blade a bright steel color, and the 
tooth at the back looking as if it had been 
often used. I was delighted. 

"Oh," I said to my guide, "look at that 
camp dog lying there!" 

He was particularly attentive to my pro- 
nunciation, for he said I pronounced some 
words, such as "girl," as he had never heard 
them pronounced before. I saw a curious 
expression pass across his face. 
125 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

"What did you say that was?" he asked. 

"Why, that camp dog lying there." 

"Camp dog!" 

Then he began to laugh and he kept right 
on until the woods echoed with his roars. 

"Well," he said finally, wiping away the 
tears, "if that doesn't beat everything! That 
isn't a camp dog, that's a cant dog, — you 
know what you cant logs and heavy things 
over with, roll 'em over and pry 'em up with 
when you couldn't do it any other way. My 
grief, to think of your calling that a camp 
dog all these years!" 

And he went off into another guffaw. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE OUTDOOR TRAINING SCHOOL 

MANY girls think of outdoor life 
as of something to be enjoyed 
if they have plenty of time. As 
a matter of course they take their daily 
bath. But the outdoor exercise comes as 
an accessory. It is still unfortunately true 
that boys more than girls take camp life 
for granted. Yet girls, and students particu- 
larly, should realize that it is economy of 
time to be out of doors. This they need 
both for their work and for their health. 
Outdoor exercise, with its bath of fresh air 
and the natural bath of freshly circulating 
blood it brings with it, its training school 
for the whole girl, is as essential as the tub 
or sponge bath. But how many of us think 
of it in that way? 

127 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

To be outdoors is to have the nerves 
keyed to the proper pitch. If fresh air is 
not a tonic to the nerves, then why is it 
that moodiness and depression fall away as 
we walk or row or lie under the trees, and 
we become saner and more serene? When 
one is depressed the best thing to do is to 
go out of doors. Altogether aside from 
any formal wisdom of book or student or 
teacher, there is wisdom with nature. // 
the head is tired, go out of doors! If the 
body is fagged, go out of doors! If the 
heart is troubled, go out of doors! The life 
out there, as no life indoors can, will make 
for health, for charity, for bigness. Petty 
things fall away, and with nature equanim- 
ity and poise are found again. It isn't neces- 
sary to bother someone about woes real or 
imaginary. All that is necessary is to get out 
among the trees and flowers, the sky and 
clouds, the joyous birds and little creatures 
of field and wood, and hear what they have 
128 



THE OUTDOOR TRAINING SCHOOL 

to say. There will be no complaining 
among them, even about very real difficul- 
ties. 

A great deal is heard concerning hygiene 
in these days, the study of it, the practice of 
It. The biggest university of hygiene in the 
world is not within houses but outside, up 
that hillside where the trees are blowing, in 
the doorway of our tent, on the lawn in 
front of the house, out on the lake, even on 
a city house-top, and, last resort if necessary, 
by an open window. One reason why many 
people are concerned about this question of 
hygiene is because they know that not only 
are human beings happier when they are 
well and strong, but also because a healthy 
person is, nine times out of ten, more moral 
than one who is sick or sickly. Ill health 
means offense of some kind, often one's own, 
against the laws of nature or society. We 
have, too, to pay for one another's faults. 
But life lived on sound physical principles, 
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VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

with plenty of sunshine, cold water, exercise, 
wind, rain, simple food and sensible cloth- 
ing, is not likely to be sickly, useless or bur- 
densome. 

The body is not a mechanism to be disre- 
garded, but an exquisitely made machine to 
be exquisitely cared for. Nobody would 
trust an engineer to run an engine he knows 
nothing about. Yet most of us are running 
our engines without any knowledge of the 
machinery. Why should we excuse ourselves 
for lack of knowledge and care when, for 
the same reasons a chauffeur, for example, 
would be immediately dismissed? How 
many of us know that the nerves are more 
or less dependent upon the muscles for their 
tone? How many of us realize how im- 
portant It Is to keep In perfect muscular 
condition? We sit hour after hour in our 
chairs, all our muscles relaxed, bending over 
books, and begrudge one hour — it ought to 
be three or four! — out of doors. The per- 
130 




BITTET? 



i-OON 





Partridge; 



T^EI)-BT?£ASTED MERGANSER 




WOODCOCK 



MALLARD 



131 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

son who can run furthest and swiftest is the 
one with the strongest heart. The person 
who can work longest and to the greatest ad- 
vantage is the one who has kept his bodily 
health. . .// may he laid down as an absolute 
rule that any individual can do more and 
better work when he is well than when he is 
not in good physical condition. Ceaseless ac- 
tivity is the law of nature and the body that 
is resolutely active does not grow old as 
rapidly as the one that is physically indolent. 
Much out-of-door life, much camping, 
keep one young in heart, too. It isn't pos- 
sible to grow old or sophisticated among 
such a wealth of joyous, wholesome friend- 
ships as may be found in nature, where no 
unclean word is ever heard and where no 
unfriendliness, no false pride, no jealousy 
can exist. A great Enghsh poet, William 
Wordsworth, has told us more of the shap- 
ing power of nature, its quickening spirit, 
its power of restoration, than any other 
132 



THE OUTDOOR TRAINING SCHOOL 

poet. It would be well for every girl to take 
that wonderful poem ''Tintern Abbey" out 
of doors and read it there. Wordsworth, 
still a very young man when he wrote it, 
tells how he loved the Welsh landscape and 
the tranquil restoration it had brought him 

" 'mid the din 
Of towns and cities." 

A higher gift he acknowledges, too, when 
through the harmony and joy of nature he 
had been led to see deeply "into the life of 
things." 

There is something the matter with a girl 
who hasn't an appetite, as sharp as hunger, 
to escape from her books and camp out of 
doors. If outdoor life cannot engross her 
wholly at times, banishing all thoughts of 
work, then she should make an effort to 
forget books and everything connected with 
them for a while. A young girl ought to be 
skillful in all sorts of outdoor accompllsh- 
133 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

ments, rowing, swimming, riding and driv- 
ing if possible, canoeing, skating, sailing a 
boat, fishing, hunting, mountain climbing. 

Fortunately there is more of the play- 
spirit connected with outdoor life than there 
used to be. Both school and college have 
fostered this wholesome attitude. If a girl 
doesn't like active sports she should culti- 
vate a love for them. You can always trust 
a person who is accomplished in physical 
ways, for anyone who has led an intelligent 
out-of-door life is more self-reliant. Her 
faculty for doing things, her inventiveness, 
her poise, her "nerve" are all strengthened. 
I recall an instance of this "faculty" and in- 
ventiveness. We were on a wild Maine lake 
when an accident happened to the canoe, a 
necessity to our return, for we were far 
away from all sources of help. Apparently 
there was nothing with which to mend it. 
But our Indian guide found there everything 
he needed ready for his use. He scraped 
134 




MARYLAND 
PHCEBE B.RD ' 5C?^LET YELLOWTHROAT 

TANAG-ER 



BLUEBIRD 




V/HIP- POOR-WILT- 



NIGHT HAWK SCREECH QWL 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

gum off a tree, he cut a piece of bark, and 
then he rummaged about until he discovered 
an old wire. With these things he securely 
mended a big hole. Oftentimes it seems as 
if the very appliances with which city child- 
ren are provided tend to make them inca- 
pable. 

The girl who lives out of doors acquires 
unhmited resourcefulness. Outdoor life 
quickens and sharpens the perception. And 
for the girl to have her power of observa- 
tion sharpened is worth a great deal. The 
capacity for accurate and quick observation 
education from books does not always de- 
velop. One must go back to nature for 
that, one must live out in the woods and 
fields all one can, one must be able 
to tell the scent of honeysuckle from 
the scent of the rose, and know the 
fragrance of milkweed even before that 
homely weed is seen, and know spruce, bal- 
sam and white pine even as one knows a 
136 




MOUNTAIN maple: 



137 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

friend. Eyes must be able to detect the dif- 
ferences not only in colors and shapes of 
birds, but in their flight, and ears know 
every song of wood and field. Then the 
services of beauty, its music, its color, its 
form, will be always about us and nature's 
health and strength and beauty become our 
own, not only her gaiety and "vital feelings 
of delight," but also her restraint upon 
weakness, and her kindling to the highest 
life — the life that is spiritual. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE CAMP HABIT 

IF there were no such thing as habit, 
life would be nothing but a perpetual 
beginning and recommencing over 
and over again. All that we do or think 
marks us with its imprint, leaving behind it a 
tendency — a tendency towards repetition is 
the beginning of habit, and because of it we 
can get the camp habit just as we can get any 
other habit. The instinct to repeat our 
camping out of doors gradually grows 
stronger. At last, scarcely conscious of the 
existence of the demand, we have come to 
feel that we cannot pass our holiday in any 
other way. The first camping experience 
stands out in bold relief because it is new. 
As we live into it, its first impressions are 
lost. And it is at this moment, if we are 
139 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

made of the right stuff and have in us the 
right longings and needs, that we begin to 
have the camp habit. 

Just as with people, maybe we scarcely 
realize how much It means to us. But let 
us stop to think about It, let us give this 
good camp habit a full opportunity If we can 
In our lives. Already the camp habit has 
become a need, almost an Imperious de- 
mand. We feel that once In so often It must 
be satisfied and In the splendid grip of this 
good habit we make way for it. Never let 
us become dull to any of Its values. Never 
let us forget, however shot with black and 
white It may be, even gray at times, the dif- 
ficulties of camping may make life seem — 
never let us forget the treasures that it pours 
in upon us and the ways in which the camp 
habit serves us. 

It is a sad and a great truth which per- 
haps women and girls have not yet fully 
realized, that the whole manner of our body, 
140 



THE CAMP HABIT 

of our souls is controlled by the goodness, or 
the badness of our habits, our moral char- 
acter, our physical temperament. There is 
a sort of natural medicine, raising what is 
not good inevitably up to what is better. 
That is what the camp habit does for us, 
raising what is not healthy, not strong, not 
sane, not joyous, not self-reliant up to what 
is strong, healthy, joyous and full of self- 
control. Is not this alone sufficient reason 
for giving the camp habit once in so 
often full sway in our lives? What better 
could we do than, in order to re-establish 
ourselves, to claim again the wise big rela- 
tionships of out-of-doors and a thousand 
and one little and big friends whom we can 
find there? 

Bad habits are thieves, for they take away 
our energies, our abilities, our joys. And the 
indoor habit is a thief. It shortens Hfe, it 
takes away from health, it saps energies, it 
dilutes joys, it makes foggy heads and 
141 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

punky morals. The sane girl will get out 
of doors every opportunity instead of spend- 
ing her time in a hot room, playing cards, 
or eating stuff that is not fit to put into the 
human stomach or flirting with boys, who if 
they are the right sort of boys, would much 
prefer, too, to be out of doors. Good hab- 
its, like this camp habit are benefactors, 
great philanthropists; they strengthen us 
and they give us more energy. They in- 
crease our ability, they multiply our joys 
compound interest-wise. Good habits are 
careful accountants and every day or every 
year as it may be, they put the interest of 
strength, of intelligence, of joy, in our hands 
to be used as we think best. The camp habit 
wisely used, obliges us to open our eyes and 
see life more truly. It obliges us to lift our 
own weight, take our part in things, that part 
may be washing dishes or it may be turning 
griddle cakes, — it forces us to know our- 
selves better and it gives us more power to 
142 



THE CAMP HABIT 

control ourselves. The camp habit — get it 
quickly if you haven't it already — assures us 
of good health and success where, for ex- 
ample, the indoor habit has brought us noth- 
ing but ill health and failure. It is a habit 
worth while getting, isn't it? 

A good many of us know ourselves, such 
as we are, pretty well and we feel that we 
do not want to know ourselves any better. 
Things are bad enough as they are. Yet if 
we can't have a more intimate knowledge of 
ourselves, if we don't arrange our lives bet- 
ter, if we don't plan for the future more 
carefully, what are our lives likely to be like 
when the curtain goes down? How are we 
ever going to take the proverbial ounce of 
prevention if we are not certain to a frac- 
tion what it is we must prevent? Camp is 
a splendid opportunity to think a little about 
those things of which we have been afraid 
to think. It is a good opportunity to medi- 
tate, a friendly world to which to go to 
143 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

know ourselves better. It is an old saying 
that the first step towards the recovery of 
health is to know yourself ill. In that great 
out-of-door world which our American camp 
life represents it is easier to find ourselves 
morally than it is indoors, we get more 
help for one thing. It is almost an instinct 
in great trouble or bewilderment or difficulty 
to escape into the out-of-door world, to get 
back to earth and to ask from the great 
mother those counsels we hear dimly or in- 
differently indoors. 

Wisdom will not be found in one camp 
holiday or in fifty or in a lifetime even. But 
It is rather strange, isn't it, that the person ^ 
whom we know least is so frequently our- 
selves? We know very well that the most 
learned man or woman is not the one whose 
head is stuffed with information, is not neces- 
sarily the conspicuous or famous man or 
woman, but is, rather, the human being who 
knows himself. And this human being may 
144 



THE CAMP HABIT 

be not our teacher, but our janitor or a 
nurse who takes care of the baby or that 
fellow who seems so simple, the guide who 
has our camping trip in charge. Indeed, 
there is scarcely a class of men who seem 
in better control of themselves and who have 
a better working knowledge of themselves 
and others than the highest type of guide. 
All the associations of that great out-of-door 
life, its demands, its privations, its sudden 
needs, its great silence, its dumb creatures, 
its wonderful beauty, have taught the man of 
the woods a wisdom no school, no university, 
can offer merely through its curriculum. We 
can't realize too early how well worth while 
that wisdom is for every girl to have. Not 
a thing of book learning, but a power that 
makes one truthful with oneself, eager to 
acknowledge what is bad and to change it. 
Frank, courageous, tried in commonplace 
wisdom, and with a knowledge of other hu- 
man beings. 

145 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

There is one kind of idea — and it is worth 
while meditating in the woods on the lever- 
age power of even one very little idea — that 
can always be found out of doors. I mean 
a healthful idea, the kind of thought that 
makes us stand straighter, that strengthens 
the muscles of our backbone, that makes us 
act as if we were what we wish to be. There 
is no other force in the world that can so 
readily straighten out a crooked boy or 
a crooked girl as this same Dr. Dame Nature. 



CHAPTER XIV 

OTHER CLEANLINESS 

CLEAN? Of course, we all know 
what cleanliness means. It is 
not possible to drive, to ride in 
a trolley, to go on a train without 
being impressed with at least the advertis- 
ing energy that is put into trying to get or 
keep the world clean. Dear me, there are 
the ever-present, cheerful Gold Dust Twins, 
well up with the times, you may believe, 
and nowadays taking to aviation. Their 
aeroplanes may not be very large, but 
they are clean as gold dust can make them, 
and the twins, without any of the friction 
that comes from dirt, are flying at last. 
What's more, intrepid as some old Forty- 
Niner, they are penetrating the camper's 
wilderness. Most of us do not want to be 
147 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

twins, and we certainly do not want to be 
gold dusters or any other kind of dusters, 
yet we should miss these jolly little young- 
sters. And there are Sapolio and Sunny 
Monday advertisements and Pears' soap — 
have you used it? — and a dozen other kinds 
and goodness knows what not besides. 

Yes, we Americans, and especially Ameri- 
can women in the household, know what it 
Is to make an effort in the midst of heated, 
dusty or uncared for streets to keep our 
houses and everything in them clean. In 
Pennsylvania you see the people scrubbing 
off white marble steps. In New England 
they turn the hose on the outside of their 
white farm houses. In the West they flood 
the side-walks to keep the dust and heat 
down. And our houses? Well, all houses 
are being built with bath tubs nowadays, 
even our camps, which is more than can be 
said for very good houses indeed in other 
countries than America. Some people think 
148 



OTHER CLEANLINESS 

that camping is an excuse to be dirty. Often 
they are very nice people, too, but they keep 
a dirty camp. They don't keep even them- 
selves clean. 

But there is another kind of cleanliness, 
not superficial, not that of the skin, or of the 
clothes or of the cabin, about which we are 
coming to think more and more deeply. It 
is what might be called vital cleanhness, the 
cleanness of stomachs, of the intestines, of 
all the vital organs. We begin to realize 
the truth of what those most helpful of mis- 
sionaries, the health culturists, are saying: 
One may be clean superficially, that is one 
may scrub enough and yet vitally be very 
far from clean. We know, although it is of 
the greatest assistance to keep the skin free 
and vigorous so that it is able to do its part 
of the house-cleaning work for our systems, 
that vital cleanliness, clean, strong, in- 
ternal organs performing their work with 
the vigor of well-constructed engines, unin- 
149 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

jured by foolish clothing, unharmed by im- 
pure food, keen for opportunity to grow 
and be vigorous — we know, I say that that 
cleanliness is more important than skin clean- 
liness. Indeed, without such deep-seated 
cleanliness it is impossible for the skin to be 
really clean. 

But clean how? I wonder whether we 
are clean in the way I mean. Yes, we 
are clean in our houses, perhaps in our 
camps, clean on the outsides of our bodies, 
clean probably, on the inside. Yet no one 
of these kinds of cleanliness is what I have 
in mind. Can any girl by the camp fire 
guess what it is? I will not say it is more 
important than household cleanliness, al- 
though it is so, — vastly more so. I will not 
say that it is more important than bodily 
cleanliness, external and internal, yet it is so, 
— vastly more so. I could almost say that 
it is more important than anything else in 
the world of human experience. Do you 
150 



OTHER CLEANLINESS 

know what it Is now? It is cleanness of the 
mind, cleanness of the soul, and of that kind 
of purity the great outdoor world is one in- 
divisible whole. 

On this cleanliness of mind and soul all 
the vital activities of the day depend, all the 
growth, the gain, the development. It might 
be well said that the way we take up the 
sun into our bodies — and we could not live 
any length of time without some sun — de- 
pends upon the cleanness or uncleanness of 
this mind and soul of ours. What we shall 
eat, what we shall hear, what we shall see, 
what we shall look forward to, what we 
shall care for — all these things will be ac- 
cording to laws as inevitable as those gov- 
erning the sun and moon and stars, valuable 
or worthless, vicious or sacred, as we feel 
them and we make them. We dip our fin- 
gers in pitch and pick up a book. What is 
the result? Any child could tell us that we 
ruin the book with our pitch-covered fin- 
151 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

gers. We dip our minds into filth, a nasty 
story, a perverted way of looking at things 
which in themselves are good and of God's 
plan, or we actually commit some ugly act 
ourselves and then we go out into the pres- 
ence of those things which are clean, the 
sunshine, the hills, the lakes, the woods, the 
white lives of others, the ideals which, it 
may be, have been ours. Do you suppose 
we feel or see that sunshine, or that we are 
aware any longer of the white lives of 
others, that our past ideals are evident to 
us when our hearts and minds are no longer 
clean? Do you suppose that there is any- 
thing in nature which comes home to us in 
quite the beautiful way it once did, the 
flowers, the birds, the song of the wind, the 
little creatures of the wood? Can they ever 
be entirely the same? No, by an inevitable 
law of compensations some of the fullness 
of our joy in these things is gone. If we 
want to be really happy it does not pay 
152 



OTHER CLEANLINESS 

to think evil, to touch evil or to commit 
it 

When our hands are dirty we know it, 
and if we have been careless about them we 
are ashamed. If people's bodies or camps 
are not clean it is painfully easy to know 
that, too. But a dirty mind, who could ever 
tell anyway that we had one? Who could 
ever tell? I will tell you: Every one knows 
it, or perhaps, better, every one feels it. If 
we are not good, if our minds are not clean, 
our presence in some mysterious way pro- 
claims that fact. If we have injured some 
one, if we have been foul-tongued, others 
will know it with no need for any one to 
tell them. Even the little rabbit we meet in 
the woods will not greet us in so friendly a 
way. We need not think that because we 
are concealing a had thought that it is there- 
fore hidden. No, indeed, it is screaming 
away like some ugly black crow on a spruce 
tip, and there is no one within hearing dis- 
153 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

tance who, whether he wishes to or not, 
does not hear what it says. 

The mind has its plague spots even as the 
body, and one has to work — because of 
one's environment or some inheritance which 
has made us not quite wholesome by na- 
ture, or because of friends whose feelings 
one would not injure, and yet who are not 
what they ought to be, — one has often to 
work to keep the mind clean. But as you 
would flee from the plague, run from a dirty 
story. Don't let the camp life be spoiled 
by anything to be regretted! Do not let 
any one touch you with it, even with a word 
of it. Keep a thousand miles away if you 
can from folk who have an impure way of 
looking at life, and camp is a good place to 
get away from such people. Shut your 
minds against them. One is never called 
upon on the score of duty to have an unclean 
mind because others have it. And if through 
some misfortune, something that is unlovely, 
154 



OTHER CLEANLINESS 

unclean, has been impressed upon you, fight 
valiantly not to think of it, to put it away 
from you. And never forget that to rule 
our spirits, to be in command of our minds, 
to have them wholesome and sweet and 
clean as a freshly swept log cabin. Is greater 
than to win such victories as have come down 
in the records of history. 

I remember that when I was a child, I 
thought my heart was white and that every 
time I said or thought anything naughty, I 
got a black spot on Its surface. I dare say 
that in the first place some dear old negro 
woman put this fable into my mind. And, 
dear me, some days it seemed to me that 
heart of mine was more spotted than any 
tiger lily that ever grew in any neglected 
garden. Perhaps It was fooHsh to think such 
a thing. I do not know, I only know that 
there were times when I was mighty careful 
of that white heart of mine, — wrapping it 
up in a pocket handkerchief would not have 
155 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

satisfied my eagerness to keep it clean. And 
what better could one wish than to go on 
one's holiday, and on forever, with the white 
shining heart of a child? 



CHAPTER XV 

WOOD CULTURE AND CAMP HEALTH 

IT Is far better for the girl to be out in a 
wilderness world which demands all 
the attention of both heart and mind, 
than to be leading an Idle or sedentary life 
at home. If there Is one word which above 
all others expresses the life of the woods, it 
is the word wholesome. It is a normal, 
active, "hard-pan" life which takes the soft- 
ness not only out of the muscles, but also 
out of the thoughts and the feelings. It 
tightens up the tendons of our bodies and 
the even more wonderful tendons of the 
mind. 

Often, to paraphrase Guts Muths, a girl 

is weak because it does not occur to her that 

she can be strong. She fails to lay the 

foundations of health and strength which 

157 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

should be laid; she fails to make the most of 
the energy that she has; she fails to think 
of the future and how important in every- 
way it is that she should be robust and full 
of an abounding vitality. It is a matter of 
the greatest importance to the world spirit- 
ually, morally, physically, that its girls 
should be strong. To be out of doors in- 
sures abundant well-being as nothing else 
can. The wilderness instinct, the instinct 
for camping and all its out-of-door life and 
sports, is the healthiest, sanest, and most 
compound-interest-paying investment a girl 
can make. 

But by an intelligent approach to this life, 
more can be put into it and therefore more 
can be taken out, than by some blindfolded 
dive Into its mysteries. To know how to 
do a thing worth doing and to do it well, is 
both wise and economical. Some of the 
physical aspects of our life will give all the 
more value because of the payment of an 
158 



WOOD CULTURE AND CAIVIP HEALTH 

added attention. A few simple rules for 
the physical side of camp life will do quite 
as much for the body as an orderly routine 
can do for the camp housekeeping. 

Simply because you are in camp, never do 
anything by eating or drinking or over-strain 
or folly of any sort, that is against the law 
of health. To break the laws of health is 
as much a sin in camp as out of it. 

Eat an abundance of simple, wholesome 
foods, using as much cereals, fruits, and 
vegetables as you can get. Don't neglect 
the care of your teeth merely because you 
are in camp. 

Do not drink tea or coffee. Stimulants 
are unnatural and unwholesome; no girl and 
no woman should ever touch them. If you 
have begun to drink tea and coffee, camp is 
the place to give them up once and for all 
time. The sooner the better. 

If you can get a cool bath in stream or 
pond and a rub down with a rough towel, 
159 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

so much the better. Exercise both before 
and after the bath, and be sure, by rub down 
and exercise, to get into a good glow. The 
rub down is of especial importance, for it 
stimulates all the tiny surface veins, is gym- 
nastics to the skin, and frees the pores of any 
poisonous accumulations which they may be 
holding. Drink a glass or two of pure 
water when you get up and the same be- 
tween meals. 

Never wear anything tight in camp or 
elsewhere. Within the circle of the waist 
line are vital organs which need every deep 
breath you can take, every ounce of freely 
flowing blood you can bring to them, every 
particle of room to grow you can give them. 
The Chinese woman who cramps her feet 
sins less than we who cramp our waists. 

Sleep ten or eleven hours every night. 

Study to make your body well, strong, 
and useful. 

If you do all these things, you need not 
?6q 



WOOD CULTURE AND CAMP HEALTH 

worry about beauty; you will possess what 
Is of infinitely more value than a pretty face 
and abundant hair, in having a sound, whole- 
some body, self-controlled, Instinct with joy, 
with clean, glowing skin, a pleasure to your- 
self and to everybody else. Clear vital 
thoughts and a keener spiritual life will both 
be yours. Because of the days in the woods 
It will be easier to be good, easier to be 
happy, easier to do the brain work of school 
and college. 

Part of the title of this chapter is Wood 
Culture. I have something in mind that is 
more than physical culture : The wilderness 
cure, the lesson of the woods, a high spirit- 
ual as well as physical truth. For the girl 
who keeps her eyes open, here are forces at 
work, mysterious. Inspiring, wonderful, that 
awake in her all the dormant worship and 
vision of her nature. Yet of physical cul- 
ture in these weeks and days in the woods 
too much cannot be said, for, as the world 
i6i 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

Is beginning to realize, on one's physical 
health, cleanness, sanity, rests much of that 
close-builded wonderful palace of mind and 
soul. Every squad of girl campers should 
have its physical culture drill, its definite ex- 
ercises, taken at a definite time, for ten or 
fifteen minutes. Ten or fifteen minutes are 
probably all that are necessary when prac- 
tically the remainder of the day is spent in 
camp sports, canoeing, fishing, climbing, 
hunting and so on. The object of these 
physical exercises should be all-around de- 
velopment; the drill should be sharp and 
light with especial attention paid to breath- 
ing and to the standing position. A steady 
unflagging effort should be made to correct 
round shoulders, flat chests, drooping necks, 
and bad positions generally. Many and 
varied are the exercises taught in school and 
college, — exercises to which all girls have ac- 
cess. I make no apologies for suggesting 
a few of the simplest by means of which any 
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WOOD CULTURE AND CAMP HEALTH 

squad of girl campers can make a beginning 
in physical culture. 

(i) From attention (hands on hips), 
place the palms of the hands flat on the 
ground, keeping knees straight. Then 
bring arms up above head. Do this eight 
times. (2) With hands on the hips and the 
hips as a socket, rotate the whole trunk first 
five times in one direction, then five times 
in the opposite, being sure that the head fol- 
lows the line of the rotating trunk. The 
difficulty of this exercise can be increased by 
placing hands clasped behind the head, and 
then later over the head. But the exercise 
should be undertaken first with the hands on 
the hips. 

(3) In between each exercise take deep 
breathing for a few seconds, rising on the 
toes as you inhale and lowering as you ex- 
hale. 

(4) Stand with the feet apart and arms 
horizontal. Without bending the knee 

163 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

place the right fist on the ground next to 
the Instep of your left foot. Then raise 
the body and reverse, placing the left fist 
on the ground next to the right instep. 

(5) After this some free exercises with 
the arms, taken with the head well up, chest 
out, and shoulders back, make a good, sharp 
light finale. 

These exercises repeated several times 
make an excellent beginning for any day, 
either in or out of camp. You may unfor- 
tunately be going through a state of mind, 
when clean skin, good lungs and digestion, 
seem to you negligible factors in life. How 
tragically important these factors are, be 
sure you do not realize too late, when both 
body and soul, health and morals, have 
been undermined. 

Most girls need to look upon camp life 

as an Incomparably rich opportunity to gain 

in an all-round physical development. The 

life itself, aside from its possible physical 

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WOOD CULTURE AND CAMP HEALTH 

culture exercises and Its sports of rowing, 
paddling, swimming, climbing and walking, 
Is the big architect of a splendid substruc- 
ture for health. By taking thought, refus- 
ing to eat greasy, unwholesome food, get- 
ting plenty of sleep, avoiding over-strain, 
taking corrective exercises, cool baths and 
rub downs, there Is no better health builder 
than the wilderness life. A wise Danish 
man said that *'He who does not take care 
of his body, neglects it, and thereby sins 
against nature; she knows no forgiveness of 
sin, but revenges herself with mathematical 
certainty." In the woods nature keeps re- 
minding you of this fact, and you are never 
allowed to forget it for any length of time. 
It Is only sensible to care for one's health. 
It is not necessarily old maidish or silly to 
take precautions that the camp health 
should be at its zenith all the time. No 
one would think of criticising a man for be- 
ing particularly careful of his horses under 
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VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

new conditions. This is precisely what we 
should be for ourselves. Your thorough- 
paced sportsman is always regardful of his 
physical condition. I have spoken about the 
drinking of pure water, the care of food, 
the folly of taking great risks, and of other 
details. There are more factors, as well, 
which will be at work in obtaining and main- 
taining good health conditions. 

The right sort of underclothing — and 
women seldom wear suitable underwear — 
should be worn. It should be high necked, 
with shoulder caps and knee caps, and should 
be of linen mesh. Every girl who is in fit 
condition should see that each day has a 
brief period at least of hard, warm, strenu- 
ous work in it. A sweat once a day, with 
a proper rub down afterwards, is one of the 
best health makers on record. In ''By the 
sweat of thy brow shalt thou labor" was 
enunciated one of the greatest of natural 
laws. If it were possible for each one of 
1 66 



WOOD CULTURE AND CAMP HEALTH 

us to sweat once a day, we should scarcely 
ever know what sickness Is. But our over- 
refined civilization makes even the use of the 
word an offence to certain middle class 
people who care more for the so-called pro- 
priety (they are the folk who say ''soiled" 
handkerchief instead of dirty, and "stom- 
ach" when they mean belly, and yet are 
ready to use such a detestably vulgar word, 
straight out of the mouths of the lowest 
classes of Immigrants, as "spiel") of what 
is said than for Its truth and strength. Lay 
It down, then, that one of the first of the 
camp health rules is a sweating every day. 
Third among the camp rules Is to keep the 
bowels open. Do you know what one of 
Abraham Lincoln's mottoes for life was? 
"Fear God and keep your bowels open," 
and In this saying there Is no Irreverence 
whatsoever, nor any sacrilege, but only a 
profound common sense that Is a credit both 
to the Maker and the great man who spoke 
167 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

the words. Cascara Is the best and safest 
laxative for a girl to use in camp. It 
should be bought In the purest tablets or 
liquid form on the market, and all patent 
cascara nostrums should be avoided.^ 

If a girl Is delicate or under the weather 
In any way, she must take more than the 
ordinary care of herself or she may have a 
head-on collision with out-and-out Illness. 

* If there is a privy in the camp great care should be 
taken that, for every reason, it is placed at a sufficient 
distance from cabins and tents. It should not be placed 
on a slope that could possibly drain off into any water 
supply. An abundance of ashes should always be kept 
within the privy and no water of any kind be poured 
into the box. A few cans of chloride of lime should, if 
possible, be kept on hand; and one can opened and in 
use in the closet. Chambers and slop pails should not 
be emptied in the immediate vicinity of the cabins but 
at some distance and in different localities. There is 
no greater abomination on the face of the earth than a 
dirty camp, and no place which so thoroughly tests 
one's love of order, decency and cleanliness. If you 
are following the trail and go into "stocked" camps for 
the night, shake and air the blankets thoroughly, and, 
out of courtesy to those who will follow you in their 
use, shake and air the blankets when you get out of 
them in the morning. 

1 68 



WOOD CULTURE AND CAMP HEALTH 

The new mode of living, the various kinds of 
exposure — especially to wet weather — , the 
larger quantities of food eaten because of an 
appetite stimulated by the vigorous outdoor 
life, the temptation to overdoing — all these 
possibilities should be kept in mind and 
avoided as dangers. Don't be silly about 
overdoing. Harden yourself slowly for 
the life; avoid competition. It is far bet- 
ter to have lived your camp life successfully 
and to have come out of it fresh and vigor- 
ous, than it is to have done a few "stunts" 
and have come out of it fagged, overstrained 
and ill. It is well the first days of camp 
life to try to eat less than you want; by this 
act of self-control you will avoid the plague 
of constipation which follows so many camp- 
ers. Moderate eating will mean more 
sleep, too. Abundant water drinking and 
a few grains of cascara should be able to 
remedy all the ills to which camp flesh is 
heir. 

169 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

As a girl takes thought about this care 
and culture of the body, making herself 
clean within and without, higher lessons and 
perfections, both of the mind and of the soul 
will come to her as inevitably as the earth 
answers to the touch of rain and sun. Do 
you want to be happy? Very well then, 
learn in the woods to be well, consider the 
laws of health, and remember first, last, 
and always that good health, not money or 
position or fame or any shallow beauty of 
feature, is the greatest and soundest secur- 
ity for happiness. 



CHAPTER XVI 

WILDERNESS SILENCE 

MOST friendships among girls, 
and older people, too, suggest 
that if there is one thing which is 
hated, it is silence. If silence does happen 
to get in among us in camp, how uneasy we 
are ! After an awkward pause we all begin 
to talk at once, — any, every topic will serve 
to break the hush which has fallen upon us. 
And if we don't succeed in getting rid of this 
silence — something apparently to be regard- 
ed as unfriendly and ominous — we make 
excuse to do something and do it. 

But of silence Maurice Maeterlinck, the 
great Belgian author of "The Bluebird" and 
of many other plays, too, says that we talk 
only in the hours in which we do not live or 
do not wish to know our friends or feel our- 
171 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

selves at a great distance from reality. 
But where do we live more truly than in our 
camp life? Then he goes on to say what I 
think is equally true: That we are very jeal- 
ous of silence, for even the most imprudent 
among us will not be silent with the first 
comer, some instinct telling us that it is dan- 
gerous to be silent with one whom we do not 
wish to know or for whom we do not care 
or do not trust. 

Let us admit at the very beginning that 
one does well to be on one's guard with the 
people with whom one does not care to be 
silent, — but one does not go camping with 
those people, — or, as the case may be, if 
we, ourselves, have a guilty conscience or an 
empty head much talking serves its ends. 
And there is another situation in which it 
seems almost impossible to be silent. There 
is someone for whom we have cared very 
much. Things have changed, there has 
been a misunderstanding, we have altered or 
172 



WILDERNESS SILENCE 

someone else has made trouble between us. 
And the first thing we notice is that we no 
longer dare to be silent together. Speech 
must be made to cover up our common lack 
of sympathy. We talk, how we talk, — 
anything, everything! Even when we are 
happy we run to places where there is no 
silence, but now, if only we can be as noisy 
as children and avoid the truth of the sad 
thing which has happened to us! 

Again, let us admit at once that there are 
different kinds of silence : There is a bitter 
silence which is the silence of hate, and an- 
other which is that of evil thoughts, and a 
hostile silence, and a silence which may 
mean the beginning of a storm or a fierce 
warfare. But the only silence worth hav- 
ing is friendly and it is of that we need to 
think, and it is that we can have by the 
camp fire in our wilderness life. 

Isn't it true after all that the question 
which most of us ought to ask ourselves se- 
173 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

riously Is not how many times we have talked 
but how many times we have been silent. 
Sometimes one wonders whether we are ever 
still and whether If we are to be silent, It Is 
not a lesson which must be learned all over 
again. How many times have we talked 
In a single day? We can't tell, for the num- 
ber of times Is so great that we can't count 
them. And the times we have been silent? 
And I don't mean how many times we have 
said nothing. To say nothing Is not neces- 
sarily to be silent. Well, we can't count 
the times we have been silent either, but 
that Is because we haven't been still at all. 
Yet there Is a big life In which there Is no 
speech and no need of it. Are we never to 
give ourselves a chance to live that? 

Do you remember your first great silence? 
Was it going away from someone you 
loved? Perhaps it was a joyous visit to 
your grandmother or to an aunt or to see a 
friend, but it meant leaving your mother and 
174 



WILDERNESS SILENCE 

you had never left her before. Or maybe 
it was your first year at boarding school or 
your freshman year at college. Do you re- 
member the silence that came over you then 
and all that filled it? And do you remem- 
ber how it wore away but gradually — that 
grip the stillness had within you and 
upon you? You know now that that first 
silence will never be forgotten. Or was it 
a return to those you loved and you realized 
as never before how incomparably dear 
these people were to you and that only si- 
lence could express that dearness? Or was 
it the silence of a crowd — awe inspiring si- 
lence which foretells the acclaim of some 
great event of happiness or a cry of woe? 
Or the silence of the wilderness as you 
looked down from a mountain side into 
some great valley of lakes? Or was it the 
death of someone you loved, and the silence 
that overcame you forced you not only to 
suffer as never before but also to think as 
^75 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

you have never done about the meaning of 
hfe? 

In that first great silence how many things 
that are precious revealed themselves to us. 
There was love; we did not realize how it 
was woven into every fibre of our lives; 
there was companionship; we did not realize 
how bitterly hard it would be to forego it; 
there was new experience; till it came we 
could not have known how much a part of 
our lives the old experience was. How 
many things in us that had been asleep were 
suddenly awakened! How much was that 
great silence worth to us then and now? 
Perhaps an unhappy or stricken silence we 
called it then; but even if it meant death or 
separation was it after all completely un- 
happy? Have we taken into account the 
wealth of conviction, of deepened experience, 
of increased love it brought us? Could 
anything so rich be in any true sense un- 
happy? 

176 



WILDERNESS SILENCE 

"Silence, the Great Empire of Silence," 
cried Carlyle, "higher than the stars, deeper 
than the Kingdom of Death." The world 
needs silent men but even more, I think, does 
it need silent women. Carlyle — and you 
should get what you can of his books and 
read them — calls silent men the salt of the 
earth. Might not silent women or silent 
girls be called double salt? He says 
that the world without such men is like a 
tree without roots. To such a tree there 
will be no leaves and no shade; to such a 
tree there will be no growth; a tree without 
roots cannot hold the moisture that is in 
the earth and it will soon fade, soon dry up 
and let everything else around it dry up, 
too. 

Have you not heard women and girls 
with an incessant silly giggle or a titter or 
a laugh that meant just nothing at all and 
yet which was heard, like the dry rattle of 
the locust, morning, noon and night? Ner- 
177 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

vousness partially; empty-headedness maybe, 
or a mistaken idea of what is attractive. 
Silliness of that kind has no place in camp. 
Nothing is more wearying, more lacking in 
self-control than such a manner, nothing so 
exhausts other people. Such giggling or 
laughing or silly talking is to the mind what 
St. Vitus's dance is to the body — an afflic- 
tion to be endured perhaps but certainly not 
an attraction and not to be cultivated. 

Is It not silence that opens the door to our 
best work? How about that work you en- 
joyed so much and did so well? How did 
you prepare for that? Yes, I know all 
about the work you bluffed through and even 
managed to get a high record in, but that 
work you really enjoyed, how was that 
done? Is it not silence, too, that opens the 
door to our dearest and deepest companion- 
ships, our profoundest sorrows, our greatest 
joys? Anyway this wilderness silence Is all 
worth while thinking about, is it not? 

178 



WILDERNESS SILENCE 

Why should this great silence, this friend- 
ly wilderness power be considered anti-so- 
cial? Really, is it not most social? Does 
It not bring us all nearer together, sometimes 
even when we are afraid to be nearer to one 
another? Does it not make us all equal, 
making us aware of those profound things 
in life which we all have in common? Si- 
lence can say, can teach, what speech can 
never, to the end of the world, learn to ex- 
press. It is safe to say that as soon as most 
lips are silent, then and then only do the 
thoughts and the soul begin to live, to grow, 
to become something of what they are des- 
tined to be, for as Maeterlinck says, silence 
ripens the fruits of the soul. Never think 
that it is unsociable people or people who 
don't know how to talk who set such a value 
on silence. No, it is those who are able to 
talk best and most deeply, think best and 
most deeply, who, following the long trail, 
recognize the fact that words can never after 
179 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

all express those truths which are among 
us — no, neither love, nor death, nor any 
great joy, nor destiny can ever be expressed 
by word of mouth, by speech. 



CHAPTER XVII 

HOMEMADE CAMPING 

IT was our second day In camp, — a 
camp on the edge of the Maine wil- 
derness. Around us were many 
lakes — ponds as the natives call them — 
Moosehead, Upper Wilson, Lower Wilson, 
Little Wilson, Trout Pond, Horse-shoe 
Pond, and a dozen others. About us on 
all sides were the forest-covered mountains, 
and burning fiercely, twenty miles distant, a 
large forest fire which filled the horizon 
with dense, yellow smoke. 

From our camp, consisting of a red 
shanty, a log cabin in which I am now sit- 
ting, my dog beside me, thinking what I shall 
say to you about a remarkable family I saw, 
and, looking up at the cabin ceiling, its log 
ridge-pole and supports between which are 
i8i 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

birch bark cuts of trout and salmon caught 
ui the lakes, of which I have spoken — from 
our camp we look out and down on a won- 
derful view. Immediately in front of the 
log cabin is a meadow, the last on the edge 
of this wilderness, then the serrated line of 
pointed firs, which marks the edge of the 
woods at the foot of the meadow. Beyond 
this line miles of tree-tops, pines, birches, 
maples, beeches, after that the shining lakes, 
and beyond them the mountains. There is 
not a house in sight. For that matter there 
is no house to be seen, not even a log cabin. 
As was said, there is a meadow in front 
of the cabin, and over to the right beyond 
our view are two other meadows. In Maine 
— as far north as this, anyway — the farmers 
have only one crop of hay, and, when there 
is so much forest, and the winter is long, and 
cattle are to be fed, every meadow has to 
be counted upon for all it will bear of hay. 
It was a foregone conclusion that somebody 
182 



HOMEMADE CAMPING 

would need and use the crop from the mea- 
dow down upon which my cabin looked. 

And, sure enough, the second day we were 
in camp, along the road bumping and thump- 
ing over the big stones came a large hay 
wagon: behind it, rattUng and jarring, a 
mowing machine and hay rake. But that 
hay wagon, what didn't it hold? In the first 
place, there was the driver, then a big pack- 
ing box, a tent rolled up, sacks of feed for 
the horses, a baby's perambulator, three chil- 
dren, a woman, a hammock, a long bench, 
some chairs, including a rocking chair, and 
several small boxes, packed to overflowing 
with articles of various kinds. For an in- 
stant it looked as if they were house-moving, 
and then, recollecting that there was no 
house to which to move, I came to the con- 
clusion that they were merely haying. 

I watched them spread the big tent-fly and 
make it fast. I saw them take out the large 
packing box, converting that into a table, on 
183 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

which some of the children put flowers In an 
old bottle ; I watched them set out the bench 
and chairs, swing the hammock, lay the Im- 
provised table with the enamel dishes which 
they took from the little boxes, and. In gen- 
eral, make themselves comfortable. 

The children had palls for berries, and 
they began to pick berries In a business-like 
fashion. The woman sat In the hammock 
and took care of the baby — oh, I forgot to 
mention the baby. The farmer and his lad 
hitched and unhitched the horses, starting 
within a few minutes to work with the mow- 
ing machine, and leaving two of the horses 
tethered to a tree. Evidently this was work 
and a picnic combined — to me a new way of 
getting In your hay crop. But the more I 
watched It and thought about It the more I 
liked It. And their dinner with the berries 
as dessert — well, I knew just how good, 
there In the sunshine, with appetites sharp- 
ened by work. It must taste to them all. 
184 



HOMEMADE CAMPING 

Inside the cottage shanty of our camp, one 
member of the household, at least, had been 
doing her work in quite a different spirit. It 
seemed to me that there was nothing which 
this cook, a large, robust woman, with an 
arm with the strength of five, had not found 
fault with and made the worst of. Her 
first groan was heard in the morning at six 
o'clock — in getting up myself to go to my 
writing table I had cruelly awakened her — 
and, of course, as she went to bed only half 
after seven the night before, she had been 
robbed of her necessary sleep. As I say, I 
heard her first groan — the sun was shining 
gloriously, and I had already had a sun bath 
and a cold sponge and my morning exercises 
— while she continued to lie in bed and to 
make every subsequent groan until after 
seven o'clock fully audible. 

She began that beautiful day and its work 
in resisting everything. She had never been 
in such a place before, and a very nice con- 
185 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

venlent camp we, ourselves, thought it. She 
groaned while she pumped water — I do not 
know whether she or the pump made the 
more noise. She complained loudly because 
of the mice. Oh, no, she could not set a 
mouse trap : she had never done such a thing 
before! And then, when we got a cat, she 
complained because of the noise the cat made 
in catching the mice. I do not know pre- 
cisely what kind of a cat she expected, possi- 
bly a noiseless, rubber-tired cat, that would 
catch noiseless, rubber-tired mice. She would 
not carry water — even a two-quart pail full 
— her back was not strong enough. She had 
never seen such dishes as these we were 
using, nice, clean enamel ware dishes, with 
blue borders. She had never heard of such 
a thing as hanging milk and butter in a well 
to keep them cool. Dear me, she never even 
thought of going to such a place where they 
did not have ice that would automatically 
cool everything, and which the ice-man kindly 
i86 



HOMEMADE CAMPING 

handed to her in pieces just the size 
which she preferred. She said the spring — 
a beautiful spring whose waters are re- 
nowned for their purity and healthfulness 
much as the waters of Poland Spring are — 
she said that the spring had pollywogs in it 
and frogs. She could not string a clothes- 
line, but stood in tears near the big trunk of 
a balsam fir, holding the line helplessly in 
her hands and looking up to the branch not 
more than two inches above her head. 
While one of us flung the end of the clothes- 
line over the branch and made it fast to an- 
other she remarked with contempt, sniffing 
up her tears, that it was not a clothes-line, 
anyway, which was perfectly true, for it was 
only a boat cord, but it did quite as well. 
When she walked down from the meadow, 
that glorious golden meadow, where the hap- 
py family was picnicking and hay-making at 
the same time, and through which wound a 
little path down to the spring's edge, she 
187 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

lifted her skirts as if she were afraid they 
might be contaminated by the touch of that 
clean, sweet-smelling, long grass. Still 
groaning she would fetch about a quart of 
water. And groaning, still groaning, she 
went to bed at night "half-dead," as she ex- 
pressed it, as the result of about five hours 
of work, in which she was all the time helped 
by somebody else. 

Of course she was "half-dead." It is a 
wonder to me now, as I think of it, that she 
did not die altogether. Instead of taking 
things as they were in the sun-filled day, with 
its keen, crisp air, its wonderful view, instead 
of feeling something of the beauty and 
health and sun and wind-swept cleanness of 
it all, she had resisted every detail of the 
day, every part of her work, she had, in 
short, found fault with everything. This 
day, that would have seemed so joyous to 
some people, had not meant to her an op- 
portunity to make the best of things and to 
i88 



HOMEMADE CAMPING 

be grateful for the long sleep, the sunshine, 
the invigorating air, the beauty, the light 
work, but merely a chance to make the worst 
of things, to throw herself against every 
demand made upon her. 

Out in front of the cabin the farmer swept 
round and round with his mowing machine, 
his big, glossy horses glistening in the sun- 
shine, the sharp teeth of the machine laying 
the grass in a wide swath behind him. He 
seemed peaceful and contented, although it 
was warm out in the direct sunlight, and the 
brakes were heavy and the horses needed 
constant guiding. Down below, nearer the 
spring, his wife swung in the hammock, and 
the children picked berries, fetched water, 
and were gleefully busy. It was a scene of 
simple contentment with life. 

When the father came back for his din- 
ner, which was eaten under the spread of a 
tent-fly and from the top of a packing box, 
decorated In the center with flowers and 
189 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

around the edges by contented faces, I said 
to him: "You seem to be having a jolly 
time." 

"Why, yes, so we are," was his reply. "I 
offered the folks who own this meadow such 
a small sum of money for the hay crop 
I didn't think I'd get it. I thought some 
one else was sure to offer them more, but I 
guess they didn't, for I got it. You see, it's 
pretty far away from my farm to come out 
here haying." 

"And so you make a picnic of it?" 

"Yes, we are making a picnic of it. The 
children like it. It's great fun for them, and 
it gives my wife, who isn't very strong, a 
chance to rest and be out of doors. I en- 
joy it, too. I like to see them have a good 
time." 

"Well," I said, before I realized I was 
taking him into my confidence, "I wish you 
could make our camp cook see your point of 



view." 



190 



HOMEMADE CAMPING 

"Why, don't she like It?" he asked inno- 
cently. 

"Like it? I am afraid she doesn't. The 
other day it rained and leaked in through 
the kitchen roof onto her ironing board, and 
when we found her she had her head on the 
board and was crying." 

"Well, that's too bad," he said. "Why 
didn't she take that board out of the way of 
the leak? We don't mind a little thing like 
a leak around here, especially when folks are 
camping. Having her feel that way must 
make a difference in your pleasure. Well, 
there is ways of taking work. Now, prob- 
ably, she's throwing herself against her 
work, and making it harder all the time." 

"That's exactly what she is doing," I com- 
mented dryly. 

"It's a pity." There was sympathy in his 
voice. "For it's such a lot easier to make a 
picnic out of what you are doing — home- 
made camping, we call this. My folks al- 
I9X 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

ways feel that way about it. Even the hard- 
est work is easier for taking it the right end 
to. My children are growing up to think, 
what it doesn't hurt any man to think, that 
work is the best fun, after all. It's the only 
thing you never get tired of, for there is al- 
ways something more to do.'* 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE CANOE AND FISHING 

IT was my somewhat tempered good 
fortune, several years ago, to spend 
two or three weeks In an exceedingly 
bleak place on a far northern coast. The 
only genial element about this barren spot 
was Its sea captains, and whence they drew 
their geniality heaven only knows. They 
made me think of nothing so much as of the 
warm lichen which sometimes flourishes upon 
cold rocks. There strayed Into this neigh- 
borhood a couple of canoes. ''Waal," ex- 
claimed one of the old salts, viewing this 
water craft skeptically, "It^s the nearest next 
to nothing of anything I have ever heard 
tell on." 

And that is precisely what the canoe Is: 
the nearest next to nothing In water craft 
193 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

which you can imagine. It is in precisely 
this nothingness that its charm lies, its light- 
ness, its grace, its friskiness, its strength, its 
motion, its adaptability to circumstances. 
There are times when it acts like a demon, 
and there are other times when its intelli- 
gence is almost uncanny. The canoe is al- 
ways high spirited, and, with high-spirited 
things, whether they be horseflesh or canoe, 
it does not do to trifle. The girl who expects 
to take liberties with the canoe has some 
dreadful, if not fatal, experiences ahead of 
her. Several years ago I was out In a motor 
boat with some friends. Two of them had 
been, or were, connected with the United 
States Navy; another was my sister, and a 
fourth was a college friend. My friend 
happened to see a pistol lying on a seat 
near her. She had never had anything 
to do with pistols, and, on some insane 
impulse of the moment, she picked it up and 
leveled it at me. I was stunned, but not so 
194 



THE CANOE AND FISHING 

the men on the boat. Such a shout of rage 
and Indignation, such a leap to seize the pis- 
tol, and such a rebuke, I have never been 
witness to before. These men were navy 
men, and they knew how criminally foolish 
it is to fool with what may bring disaster. 
It is those who know the canoe best and are 
best able to handle it, who are most cautious 
in its use. Those of you who expect to treat 
it as you might the family horse would do 
well to look out. 

The canvas-covered cedar canoe is the 
best. If you are going to take a lot of duf- 
fle with you, the canoes will have to be longer 
than you need otherwise have them: about 
eighteen feet, and only two people to a 
canoe. The canoe will cost you from twen- 
ty-five dollars up, and this item does not in- 
clude the paddle. The paddle should be 
bought exactly your own height; it will 
then be an Ideal length for paddling. Its 
cost will be a little more or a little less than 
195 



• VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

a dollar and a half. You should have a 
large sponge, tied to a string, on one of the 
thwarts. This you will use for baihng when 
necessary. 

If you have had any experience with a 
canoe, you will not abuse it, and will not 
need to be told not to abuse it. If it is a 
light one, and you are a strong girl, you 
should learn to carry it Micmac fashion on 
the paddle blades, a sweater over your shoul- 
ders to serve as cushion. Watch a woods- 
man and see the way he handles a canoe. 
One of the very first things you will observe 
is that he never drags it about, but lifts it 
clean off the ground by the thwarts, holding 
the concave side toward him. Also, you 
should observe his soft-footed movements 
when he is stepping into a canoe. If a canoe 
is not in use it should be turned upside down. 
Never neglect your canoe, for a small punc- 
ture in it is like the proverbial small hole in 
a dike. If you let it go, you will have a 
196 



\ 



THE CANOE AND FISHING 

heavy, water-soaked craft or a swamped one. 
Water soaking turns a seemingly intelligent, 
high-spirited canoe, capable of answering to 
your least wish or touch, into the most lunk- 
headed thing imaginable, a thing so stupid 
and so dead and so obstinate, that life with 
it becomes a burden. Remember that the 
wounds in your canoe need quite as much 
attention as your own would. 

The balance of a canoe is a ticklish thing. 
To the novice, the day when she can paddle 
through stiff water while she trolls with a 
rod under her knee and lands a two- or 
three-pound salmon unaided, seems far off. 
I am by no means a past-master in the art of 
canoeing, yet I have often done this, and am 
no longer troubled by the question of bal- 
ance in a canoe. So much for encourage- 
ment! Most of an art lies, granting the 
initial gift for it, in custom or habit. Make 
yourself familiar with the traits of your 
canoe, work hard to learn everything you 
197 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

should know about it, and your lesson will 
soon be learned. 

When you are going to get into it, have 
your canoe securely beside a landing, and 
then step carefully into the center and mid- 
dle. Bring the second foot after the first 
only when you are sure that you have your 
balance. The next thing is to sit down. Be 
certain that it is not in the water. The 
only satisfactory recipe for this delicate act 
is to do it. No girl should step into a canoe 
for the first time without some one at the 
bow to steady it. Very quickly you will 
learn clever ways of using your paddle to 
help in keeping the balance. Until you do, 
you can't be too careful, or too careful that 
others should be careful. Take no chances 
in a canoe. If any are taken for you, hang 
on to your paddle. It is well to have an in- 
flatable life-preserver, but, best of all, is it 
to know how to swim. Never move around 
in a canoe, or turn quickly to look over your 
198 




199 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

shoulder. A canoe is a long-suffering thing, 
but once "riled" and its mind made up to 
capsize, heaven and earth cannot prevent 
that consummation and your ducking or even 
drowning. 

Become skillful in the use of the paddle, 
and the best way to learn is through some 
one who knows how. Paddling is an art 
and a very delightful one, requiring much 
skill of touch and strength. Although as a 
girl I cared most for rowing, I have in the 
larst ten years become so devoted to the pad- 
dle stroke, to its motion and touch and effi- 
ciency, that rowing only bores me. Get 
some one, a brother, a father, a friend, a 
guide, to teach you the rudiments of pad- 
dling. These once learned, canoeing is as 
safe as bicychng and not more difficult. It is 
all in learning how. 

The writer is an old-fashioned fisher- 
woman and goes light with tackle. How- 
ever, I have noticed that the simplicity of fish- 
200 



ROD. 




SIMPLE WINCH 
REEL. 



u y 



HOOKS. 



u 




TROUT FLY. TROLLING SPOONS. 



20] 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

ing tackle does not In the least interfere with 
luck. If you are going to fish with worm, 
hook, and sinker, you will need no advice. 
Perch, pickerel, black bass, cat-fish, and 
others to be caught in still fishing, will be 
your quarry. As a rule you will troll for 
pickerel and pike, and there is no sport more 
pleasant in the world than that which is to 
be had at the end of a trolling spoon: the 
motion of the boat, the vibration of the line, 
the spinning of the spoon, and then the sud- 
den strike, with all its possibilities for tak- 
ing In big fish. I defy anyone to have a 
more exciting time than netting a salmon 
from a trolling line and landing it success- 
fully in a canoe. But this is not a thing to 
be attempted by the novice. Much better let 
the salmon go and save yourself a ducking. 

The finest art of all fishing is fly-fishing. 
One either does or does not take to it natur- 
ally, after one has been taught something of 
the art by brother, father, or guide. Alas, 

202 



THE CANOE AND FISHING 

that the fish greediness of campers Is mak- 
ing good fly-fishing, even in the wilderness, 
more and more diflicult to get! Personally, 
if I am after trout or salmon, "plugging" or 
"bating," as it is called, seems to me an un- 
pardonably coarse and stupid sport. Yet our 
lakes have been so abused by this process 
that fly-fishing is frequently impossible. To 
sit or stand in a canoe, casting your line, the 
canoe taking every flex of your wrist; to see 
the bright flies, Parmachenee Belle or Silver 
Doctor — or whatever fly suits that part of 
the country in which you are camping — alight 
on the surface as if gifted with veritable life, 
and then to be conscious of the rush, the 
strike, and to see a rainbow trout whirling 
off with your silken line, is to experience an 
Incomparable pleasure. To have a strike 
while the twilight is coming on, a big fel- 
low, with the line spinning off your reel as If 
it would never stop, to see your salmon leap 
into the air and strike the water, to reel him 
203 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

in, then plunge ! and down, down he goes ; 
to feel the twilight deepening as you try- 
to get him in closer to the canoe again; to 
know suddenly that it is dark and that the 
hours are going by; to feel your wrist ach- 
ing, your body tense with excitement; to 
think that you are just tiring him out, that 
you have almost got him — almost, then a 
rush, a plunge, the line slackens in your hand, 
and he is gone. That is fisherman's luck, 
and great luck it is, even when the fish is 
lost. 

Only a few words about fishing tackle. 
Have a good rod or two, but don't begin 
your experience at fishing with expensive 
tackle. The cheaper rod will do quite as 
well until you learn what you want. For 
trolling the best rod is a short steel one. 
For fly-fishing you will always use split bam- 
boo or some similar wood. You will have 
accidents, so have reserve tackle to fall back 
upon. In any event do not buy a heavy 
204 




LANDING NET 



205 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

rod, and never buy anything with a steel 
core In It. If you can afford It, get a first- 
class reel, one that works easily and Is of 
simple mechanism. A simple winch reel Is 
the best. Avoid patented contraptions. 
While you are using them hang your rods up 
by the tips. In any event keep them dry and 
In as good condition as possible. Enameled 
silk line you must have for all trout fishing. 
For other kinds of fishing It does not so 
much matter what you do use, provided the 
line Is strong and durable. Be sure to have 
extra lines to fall back on. 

Leaders, the details about flies to be used, 
their color, angling knots made in fastening 
leaders or line or fly, methods for keeping 
your flies in good order and condition, the 
use of the landing net, necessary repairs to 
be made, the skill of the wrist In casting, the 
best sort of trolling, the care of fish, all these 
things will come to you through experience, 
and all suggest how much, how delightfully 
206 




ANGLING KNOTS. 



207 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

much, there is to be learned in the best of all 
sports. 

Go to some first-rate sporting goods* house 
for your flies; they will tell you what kinds 
you need, as well as answer other questions. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE TRAIL 

A GIRL who has learned to camp 
will not only have her own pleas- 
ures greatly increased, but she will 
also add to those of her friends, becoming a 
better companion for her chums, her father, 
her brother; for camping, if it is anything, 
is a social art. It is far better for a girl 
to be out in the world which demands all of 
one's attention, one's eyes and ears and nose 
and feet and hands and every muscle of the 
entire body, than to be leading a sedentary 
life at home, or analyzing emotions or senti- 
mentalizing about things not worth while. 
The big moose which unexpectedly plunges 
by provides enough emotions to last a long 
time; the land-locked salmon that threatens 
to snap the silken line, enough excitement. 
209 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

You can't learn all that there Is to be 
learned in the school of the woods through 
one camping expedition. It would be rather 
poor sport if you could. Don't be afraid to 
ask questions about what you don't know. 
Keep on asking them until you are wood-cul- 
tivated. The wilderness is your opportunity 
to make up for those vitally interesting facts 
about life which are not taught in schools. 
Above all, have a map of the country in 
which you are, and study it. Keep that map 
by you as If it were Fidus Achates himself, 
and refer to It whenever there is need. The 
girl or woman In camp who never knows 
where she Is Is a bore, sponging upon the 
good-nature and Intelligence of others who 
have taken the trouble to familiarize them- 
selves with the He of the land. Such a 
girl never makes any plans, never takes the 
Initiative, never gives anyone a sense of rest 
from responsibility. There are girls and 
older women who think It rather clever to 

2IO 



THE TRAIL 

be unable to tell east from west, north from 
south. I may say here that in camp they 
belong to the same class of foolish incompe- 
tents who in college boast that they cannot 
spell — presumably because they are devoting 
themselves to a much higher call upon their 
intelligence than anything so superficial as 
spelling! If camping means anything in the 
world, it means cooperation, and this coop- 
eration should be all along the line. 

If you have an innate sense of direction, 
train it. If you have none, do not venture 
out into the wilderness except with someone 
who has. Always tell people where you are 
going. If you are not familiar with the use 
of a rifle you would better have a shrill whis- 
tle or a tin horn to use in case you want to 
summon anyone. Sun and wind should be 
part of your compass; the trees, too. You 
will, of course, learn how to blaze a trail, 
and the sooner you do this the better, for it 
is good training in following out a point of 

211 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

the compass. The wilderness Is full of signs 
of direction for your use, some of which are 
certain to be serviceable at different times, 
and some of which will not prove depend- 
able. The sun rises in the east and sets in 
the west. At high noon of a September day, 
if you turn your back squarely to the sun, 
you will be looking directly north. The 
wind is a helper, too. When the sun rises, 
notice the direction of the wind, and, while 
it does not shift, it will prove a good com- 
pass or guide. If it is very light, wet the 
finger and hold it up. By doing this the wind 
will serve you as a compass. Remember, 
also, that the two lowest stars of the Big 
Dipper point toward the North Star, which 
is always a guide to be used in charting a 
wilderness way. Also on the north sides of 
trees there is greater thickness to the bark 
and more moss. This is, I suppose, because 
the trees, being unexposed to the sunlight on 
the north side, retain the moisture longer 

212 



■^ 



*-, 



1 v^S^" 



^-' .1 

#- — 



-^^ 

THE DIPPER. 



213 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

there. Some say, too, that the very topmost 
finger of an evergreen points toward the 
north. Even In civilization they usually do. 
To become famiHar with a compass is a very 
simple matter. Every boy learns this lesson, 
and there is no reason why girls should not 
do the same. Never buy a cheap compass; 
it is not to be relied upon. To the amateur 
in the woods a good one is not a friend at 
which to scoff. A few expeditions out be- 
hind the cabin will teach you all you need 
to know about its use. If by some miscal- 
culation a girl should get lost, let her realize 
then that the great demand is that she shall 
keep her head on her shoulders, where it has 
been placed, and where she will need to make 
use of it. Let her sit down and think, re- 
viewing all that has happened, and trying to 
solve the problem of what she is to do. A 
panic is the last and worst thing in which 
she can afford to indulge. To most people 
at some time or other comes the conviction 
214 




CA"RlBOU 



MOOSE 



215 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

that they are lost — a conviction happily dis- 
pelled in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases 
out of a thousand. In this, as in everything, 
a miss is as good as a mile, and one does 
well to make light of unavoidable mistakes. 

If, by any chance, you should be lost, don't 
run around. If you have no compass or if 
darkness is coming on, settle down where you 
are. Devote your energies to occasional 
periods of shouting and to building a camp 
fire, keep your body warm and dry and your 
head cool. You will be found. And remem- 
ber that there are no wild creatures to be 
feared in our camping wilderness. You have 
nothing of which to be afraid except your 
own lack of common sense. Here is a chance 
for your *'nerve" to show itself. 

As you go through the woods, cross the 
ponds and lakes, climb mountains, your 
luncheon in your pocket, compass and knife 
and cup and match-box all ready and friendly 
to your hand; as you feel the wilderness be- 
216 




&KUNK. 



V/OODCMUCK 1R£B. 



217 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

coming more and more your empire, be sure 
that you do not abuse the privileges which 
are revealed to you. The more gentle and 
considerate you are in this life which has 
opened itself up to you, the more it will tell 
you its secrets. That you should leave dis- 
figuration and destruction and bloodshed be- 
hind you does not prove that you are in any 
sense a true sport. The camera is one 
of the best guns for the wilderness. It is 
better to be film-thirsty than bloodthirsty. A 
girl who is in earnest about camera shooting 
can test her ''nerves" quite sufficiently for all 
practical purposes. How about facing, or 
chasing, a six- or seven-hundred-pound 
moose, plunging down through a cut or a 
trail, and having the nerve to press the bulb 
at just the right moment? Or a big buck? 
Or a little bear? Or a porcupine? A good- 
kodak and some rolls of film are all that is 
needed to begin the work of photography. 
A fine way to do, if you intend to go into 
218 



THE TRAIL 

the matter seriously, is to get some book on 
nature photography and make a thorough 
study of it. Other books, too, there are, 
which will be full of profit for you as you 
come to know the wilderness life. Begin 
with Thoreau, John Burroughs, John Muir, 
Stewart White, Ernest Seton Thompson, and 
these will lead you on and out through a 
host of nature books and finally into a more 
technical literature on hunting, camping, and 
the wilderness life in general. 

I believe that in the end an intelligent 
study of the woods made with eyes and ears, 
heart and mind, notebook and book, will 
bring down more game than any shotgun or 
rifle ever manufactured. I have seen guide- 
books of northern wildernesses whose collec- 
tive illustration suggested only the interior 
of some local slaughter house. No tender- 
foot myself, for, when the first shotgun was 
placed against my shoulder, I was so little 
that its kick knocked me over, I do not write 
219 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

this way because I am unfamiliar with the 
pleasures of well-earned or necessary game, 
but because I have tried both ways and I pre- 
fer a friendly life in the wilderness. To kill 
what you see, just because you do see it, to 
set big fires, to be wasteful, to take risks in 
your adventures, are no signs that you know 
the woods — and they are most certainly no 
guarantee of your love. 



CHAPTER XX 



CAMP DOn'ts 



DON'T forget your check list. 
Do make your plans early 
for the camping expedition. 

Don't be dowdy in the woods. Dress ap- 
propriately. 

Do keep a clean camp. Otherwise you 
will go in for hedgehogs, skunks, flies, and 
other disease-breeding pests. 

If In doubt about drinking water, don't 
drink it — at least, not till it is thoroughly 
boiled. 

Do be independent. Camp Is no place for 
necklaces, however beautiful. 

Don't start out camping with a new pair 
of shoes on your feet. 

Do keep from adding to the things you 

221 



VACATION CAMPING FOR GIRLS 

want to take with you, or you won't be able 
to reach the "jumping off" place. 

Don't forget your fly "dope." 

If your appetite Is good, be polite to the 
cook. 

Don't forget the box of matches. 

Don't be foolhardy. It might take too 
long to find you. If you feel that way, have 
somebody attach a tump line to you. 

If you have an open stove, when you go 
off for the day, be sure to close It. 

Don't be afraid to ask questions — every- 
body does. 

Do help others with the work. 

Don't cut your foot with the axe. It will 
not add to the pleasures of camp life. 

DIsh-washIng Is not pleasant work. Do 
your share just the same. 

Don't step on the gunwale of the canoe, 
and upset it, or trip over a thwart. The 
canoe is a ticklish craft. 

Do conform to the camp routine. Don't 

222 



CAMP DONT'S 

keep the dinner waiting, delay the fishing 
expedition, or call out a search party. 

Don't be ignorant of the topography of 
the region in which you camp. By not study- 
ing the map for yourself, you will give others 
a lot of trouble. 

Listen to what your guide says. 

Remember, I shall be glad to answer brief, 
pointed questions, addressed to me at 

CAMP RUNWAY, 
Moosehead Lake, Greenville, Maine. 



THE END 



INDEX 



Beavers, 88-89 




Camp habit, 139-146 


Beds: 




Camping grounds, 68- 


bough beds, 97-100 


76 


browse bed, 100, ] 


[01 


sites to be avoided for, 


sleeping bags, 103 




73 


Birch bark, 9, 40 




sites to be chosen for, 


Black flies, lo-ii 




73-76, 181-192 


Blankets, 21 




Can opener, 8. See 


Bloomers, 4, 18-19. 


See 


Cooking utensils 


Clothing 




Canoes, 193-208 


Blouse, 4, 19, 22. 


See 


care in handling, 193- 


Clothing 




200 


Books, 20-21, 219 




cost of, 196 


Breck's fly "dope," i 


02 


length of paddle, 195 


Breck's 'Way of 


the 


paddling, 200 


Woods," 7, 26, 


45, 


Cascara sagrada, 5 


63 




Check lists, i, 96 
Cleanliness, 147-156, 


Camera film, 20, 


218- 


168 


219 




Clothing, 1-5, 13-20, 21- 


Camp Fire Girls, 


II, 


23, 165-166 


"5 




gloves, 5 



225 



INDEX 



Clothing, hunting suit, 

cost of, 1 8 
jacket, 1 8 
Cold cream, 5 
Combination suits, 3-4, 

17, 165-166 
Cook, 37-45 
Cooking utensils, 8, 34- 

35, 62, 104-105 
Cooler, 8, 32-34 

Dishes, 8, 35 
Duffle bag, 2, 14 

Economy, 5, 107-117 
Equipment, 2, 8-9 

cost of, 8 

poncho, 100 

tents, iio-iii, 

tools, 9, 35 
Expenses, 107-117 

for food, 114 

for party of four or 
five, 108-111 

for tents, no 

Feet, care of, 19 
Fires, 11, 77-86 



Fishing, 193-208: 

fly, 202-204 
Fishing tackle, 200, 

204-208 
Fly "dope," 9, 35, lOi- 

102 
Food, I, 6-8, 24-36 

bacon, 28 

butter, 29 

cleanliness of, 30-31 

dried vegetables, 26-27 

flour, 27 

meat, 28-30 

milk, 32, 37, 114-116 

portage of, 24 
Footgear, 2, 3, 14-16 
Fry pans, 8, 62. See 

Cooking utensils 
Fuel, 9-10, 40-42 
Furnishings, 11, 94-106 

Gloves, 5. See Clothing 

Guides, 69, 85, 1 18-126 

assistance to, 123-125, 

145 
character of, 122-123 
duties of, 119-121 



226 



INDEX 



Hat, 4, 19 




Mosquitoes, h e a d n e t 


Head net, lOl 




and, loi. See Hat 


Health: 




netting for, 35 


. clean-working d 


iges- 


tarlatan for, loi 


tlon and, 166-1 


68 




eating and, 169 




Neat's-foot oil. See Wa- 


hygiene and, 127 


-138 


terproofing 


physical culture 


drill 


Nesting pails, 8, 34 


and, 161-165 






rules for, 159-161 




Pockets, 4. See Clothing 


water and, 10, 42-44, 


Poncho, 100 


76, 157-170 




Privy, care of, 168. See 


Hunting suit, 18. 


See 


Sanitation 


Clothing 






Hygiene, 127-138. 


See 


Recipes, 45 


Health 




apples, 49 
bacon, 62 


Jacket, 18. See Cloth- 


baked beans, 59-60 


ing 




baking powder bis- 
cuits, 55-56 


Knives, 8. See Cooking 


boiling vegetables, 65- 


utensils 




66 
bread-making, 51 


Matches, 40 




broth, 62 


Moccasins, 2, 16. 


See 


buckwheat cakes, 61 


Footgear 




Chinese tea-cakes, 63 


Mosquitoes, 10- 11 




chowder, 62-63 



227 



INDEX 



Recipes : 

corn bread, 56-57 

corn meal, 48 

corn pone, 60-61 

eggs, 54-55 

fish, 52-53 

fudge, 64-65 

gingerbread, 63 

macaroni, 48 

mashed potatoes, 61-62 

mayonnaise dressing, 
66 

molasses cookies, 64 

mushrooms, 61-62 

olive oil, 65 

pancakes, 57-58 

partridge, 53-54 

penuche, 64 

rice, 48 

soups, 58, 59 

stewed fruits, 65 

stock, 46 

vegetable stew, 49 

white sauce, 63 
Reflector baker, 8, 39. 
See Cooking uten- 
sils 



Safety pins, 5. See 

Clothing 
Sanitation, camp health 
and, 157-170 
water and, 10, 30-31, 
42-44, 76 
Skirt, 4, 17-19 

extra. See Clothing 
khaki, 17 
tweed, 17, 22 
Soap, 5, 20 
Sporting catalogs, 

103 
Sporting magazines, 
Outing, Country 
Life in America, 
Forest and Stream, 
Field and Stream, 
Recreation, Rod 
and Gun in Can- 
ada, no 
Stockings, 3. See Cloth- 
ing 
holeproof, 16, 17, 19 
woolen, 16 
Sweater, 18. See Cloth- 
ing 



228 



INDEX 



Tents, iio-iii. See 
Equipment and 
also Expenses 
Tin can camping, 26 
Tools, 9, 35. See 

Equipment 
Tooth brush, 5 
Tooth paste, 5 
Trail, 209-220 

following the, 211- 

214 
independence on, 209- 
211 



Trail, lost on, 214-216 
walking, 70 

Vacation Bureaus, 115 
Viscol. See Water- 
proofing 

Water, 10, 42-44, 76. 

See Health and also 

Sanitation 
Waterproofing, 3, 14, 

16. See Footgear 



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